Murray’s dedication to buying Heart & Stroke Lottery tickets goes back 20 years: “Heart issues have affected my family for more than three generations. My grandfather and Dad had heart attacks, and when I was diagnosed with a heart condition 25 years ago, I wanted to break that trend.” Since then, he’s been focusing on medical monitoring and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  

On the road when his “million dollar call” came in, Murray says: “I still get choked up thinking about it.” Pulling over and adding wife Louise to the call, he says: “I’d just caught my breath, my heart rate had settled, and then I got to listen to her reaction. We were both crying”.  Later at home, checking the lottery website, Louise adds: “We looked at each other and realized, this is REAL.”  

A few days later, Murray “pranked” his Facebook friends with a post of him holding a trophy at a Juno Awards promotional event: “My son googled to see if it was somehow true, and that’s when he found my name on the lottery website!” Beyond paying off debts and fulfilling their dreams of visiting Portugal and a Canadian Rockies train tour, the two are looking forward to special get-togethers with their four children and six grandchildren.