Furlong grateful for those who put her over the top in Paradise campaign

By Mark Squibb

Minor hockey volunteer, Paradise high school advocate, and NL Health Services Mental Health and Addictions manager Erin Furlong proved popular with voters this most recent election.

Furlong earned 2,646 votes, second over all only to incumbent Kimberley Street, who racked up 2,812 votes in Paradise’s municipal election.

“I truly didn’t think that I was going to get that many votes,” said Furlong. “Coming second in votes to Kimberley Street was a pretty big deal to me.”

And though the numbers looked promising from the get-go on election night, Furlong said she didn’t count on victory until the final polls were announced.

“I didn’t want to jinx anything,” said Furlong, who spent election night at home surrounded by friends and family. “There was a time when friends that were with us said, ‘Erin, you’re obviously in now,’ and I said, ‘Guys, there’s six polls left, you have no idea what’s going to come out.’ So, they were all fairly confident, but I was holding back a little bit just because you never know. There could have been a polling station in an area of town that had a huge amount of support for one candidate over another and they could have jumped up in the polls… A lot of friends wrote me, because the last three polls were going to be late coming in, saying, ‘I can’t stay awake because it’s past my bedtime but congratulations,’ and I would say, ‘Thank you but I’m not in yet!’ And they wrote me the next morning to say, ‘I told you so!’

As she anticipates a steep learning curve in the weeks and months ahead, Furlong said she is glad that, along with other newcomers, there will also be experienced incumbents around the table. She added that Town staff have so far done an excellent job bringing candidates up to speed.

Furlong extended her thanks to all those who helped with her campaign including those who helped deliver her flyers after the postal union stopped distributing flyers leaving municipal and provincial election candidates in the lurch. She also thanked those who put up her signs – and put them back up after they fell over.

“The amount of support I received was absolutely incredible,” said Furlong. “I guess I have to do my best as a town councillor to pay them back.”

Also elected were Jennifer Hiscock, Sheldon Antle, and incumbents Glen “Bic” Carew and Tommy Maher. Patrick Martin was elected mayor, defeating fellow mayoral candidate Larry Vaters by less than 200 votes.