Candidate Spotlight: Cully Robinson

The Liberal candidate for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins says he thinks this provincial election will be about local issues.

Cully Robinson says he is running to become MLA because of issues like preserving local health care and hospital services.

“I’ve been talking to people and I ask them ‘can we trust the Conservatives to maintain full services at our hospital?’ The answer is always emphatically ‘no,'” said Robinson.

The Progressive Conservatives tried to close ERs overnight in Sussex and five other communities as part of health-care reforms but scrapped their plans after public backlash.

Even the outgoing PC MLA for the riding, Bruce Northrup, said he could not support the changes, calling it “one of the most difficult decisions” of his political career.

Robinson, a longtime volunteer and former teacher, said he believes he is a mainstream candidate who can appeal to a broad cross-section of voters.

“In an election like this, it’s all about talking to people. We’re working the phones, we’re going to be working on social media, and that’s the responsible thing to do,” he said.

A former teacher in Sussex, principal in British Columbia and Yukon, and superintendent of schools in Nunavut, Robinson is married to Heather Moffett, who was born and raised in Sussex.

“We spent many summers visiting family in Sussex and St. Martins before returning to live here permanently. Through my work and involvement with local organizations, I have seen the strengths of this community in sharing, caring and working for others. My wife and I feel we have come home,” said Robinson.

In addition to maintaining health-care services, Robinson said New Brunswick also needs to attract more nurses to address the ongoing shortage and provide more support for the province’s aging population.

He said there also has to be consideration of what can be done for small businesses and family farms, especially in a rural riding like his.

“We often hear economic discussions revolving around big corporations. They’re a keystone to the economy of New Brunswick — they provide industry and jobs in every corner of the province — but there’s room for diversity and growth in our economy in many sectors,” said Robinson.

“We should be looking at energy, which is significant here in the Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins area. We should be looking at post-secondary education, we have a small university in this town. We need to be looking at tourism and small business and agriculture.”

Robinson said he has also heard repeatedly about the need to streamline government services to make them user-friendly and easy to access.

Voters across New Brunswick will head to the polls Sept. 14.