A newly elected member of the Alberta legislature has come up a double winner after discovering she’s in line for a $100,000 lottery prize.
Janis Irwin captured the Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood seat for the NDP in last Tuesday’s provincial election, succeeding former NDP cabinet minister Brian Mason.
Two days later, the former teacher and government worker found a lottery ticket from March in her wallet.
She checked it at a gas station in her neighbourhood and was stunned to find out she’s in line for a big payout.
Irwin attributes her electoral victory to a lot of hard work and the lottery win to plain old good luck.
The freshly minted politician has yet to receive her winnings, but she plans to put the cash toward her mortgage and help her niece and nephew pay for school.
Irwin said she was trying to get her life sorted after a hectic campaign when she found the ticket and checked it. She said it was a “huge shock.”
“I saw the six figures show up and I was like, ‘yeah, right.’ So a few people kind of gathered around and the two ladies working at the gas station were super excited,” she said.
One of those employees, Estrella Gantalao, told CTV News that Irwin just said “oh my God.”
Edmonton-Whitemud member-elect Rakhi Pancholi said her colleague worked very hard during the election campaign and her victory at the polls was well deserved.
“And hey, what a nice little bit of luck on top that she also won the lottery,” said Pancholi.
Irwin said she and her campaigners spent many cold dark nights door-knocking to win the support of voters.
“To be clear, I didn’t win the lottery … just $100,000,” she said.
“I’m just really focused right now at the task at hand, and that’s serving the constituents of Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in the best capacity that I can.” (CTV Edmonton)
The Canadian Press
