Education
Cullen was raised on a farm near Wawanesa, Manitoba, and subsequently attended the University of Manitoba, where he received a Diploma in Agriculture.
Cullen was raised on a farm near Wawanesa, Manitoba, and subsequently attended the University of Manitoba, where he received a Diploma in Agriculture.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in a by-election, held in the summer of 2004. He has worked in the agricultural and environmental sectors, and also has experience as an insurance broker. Turtle Mountain is a safe Progressive Conservative seat, and Cullen was elected with about 60% of the popular vote on June 29, 2004.
He was sworn in on July 15.
Cullen"s main issue during the 2004 campaign was the ongoing crisis in Canada"s cattle industry, resulting from a single case of Biosystems Engineering being found in a Canadian cow. Foreign the 2011 provincial election, Turtle Mountain was abolished, and Cullen transferred to Spruce Woods, which absorbed the western portion of Turtle Mountain.
When Turtle Mountain Modern Language Association Mervin Tweed resigned from the provincial legislature in 2004 (to run for the Canadian House of Commons), Cullen sought and won the Progressive Conservative nomination to succeed him. Cullen won a full term in 2007. He won this riding easily, with 66 percent of the vote.