Critic for the Official Opposition On March 20, 2014, Cullen replaced Peggy Nash as Finance Critic for the Official Opposition just days after former Natural Resources minister Joe Oliver was named Minister of Finance. Upon taking up the post, Cullen emphasized his previous occupation as a small business owner in northern British Columbia against Oliver's previous career as a Merrill Lynch executive and promised to bring a "Main Street" perspective to challenge Oliver's "Bay Street" background. In March 2015, Cullen attacked Joe Oliver over his avoidance of Question Period after repeated delays in introducing the budget after the drop in oil prices. On September 23, 2014, Cullen tabled Bill C-628 (short-titled An Act to Defend the Pacific Northwest) in the House of Commons, which would ban supertankers from the Queen Charlotte Sound, the Hecate Strait and the Dixon Entrance, as well as modify the National Energy Board Act to require any pipeline review to take into account the impact of any proposal on employment in the refining and upgrading sectors, and require the National Energy Board to deepen its consultations with communities and First Nations. The bill was a response to the National Energy Board's approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. As part of the Take Back Our Coast campaign, Cullen toured dozens of communities around British Columbia's north, interior, lower mainland and across Vancouver Island promoting Bill C-628 and raising awareness about the potential impacts of a pipeline or supertanker spill from Northern Gateway on fisheries, tourism and communities. On April 1, 2015, the bill came to a vote at second reading in the House of Commons, and was defeated by a count of 141–120, with all government MPs voting against. On November 22, 2014, Cullen was named Most Knowledgeable Parliamentarian at the Maclean's Magazine Parliamentarian of the Year Awards in Ottawa, edging out Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who placed second in votes. 42nd Parliament After the 2015 election, Cullen was appointed the NDP critic for Environment and Climate Change and Democratic Reform in the 42nd Parliament. As critic for Democratic Institutions, Cullen took the lead in criticizing the government's plans for electoral reform, and in particular for the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. The government ultimately reversed course, and instead backed Cullen's motion for the composition of the committee. Cullen was subsequently named to the committee, and serves as vice-chair. Cullen announced on March 1, 2019, that