By Mark Squibb | Vol. 12 No. 9 (May 2, 2019)
Ferryland district candidate Chris Molloy says politics as usual isn’t working
Born and raised in St. Shotts, Chris Molloy grew up working with his father on the farm, starting at six and cutting cod tongues by the time he was nine.
Molloy, now semi-retired, worked as a taxi driver for over 20 years.
Chris Molloy
He also ran as the NDP’s candidate in Ferryland district in 2011.
“I don’t think the party system is working in Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said of his decision to run as an independent in Ferryland District this time around.
“I would like to change the landscape of the political system here in Newfoundland,” said Molloy, who told the Irish Loop Post he wants to see 40 Independent seats in the House of Assembly.
He thinks the time is right for Newfoundlanders to put their trust in an independent candidate.
“A lot of people are getting fed up with the party system,” he explained. “You talk to any Newfoundlander across the island, and they’ll tell you the party system is not working. For us to be in the financial state that we’re in, that should tell the people that the system is not working for us.”
Molloy said if elected as an independent, he would be free from the burden of towing the party line.
“Years ago, it was said on the Southern Shore, and probably some other districts, they only had two choices, and that was Liberal or PC. And I’m saying to you, as a voter, ‘Well sir, I’m here as an Independent. I have no connection anymore to any political party, and this is what I would like to propose,’” he said.
Molloy said there is untapped potential on the Southern Shore for employment, such as rural farming and fish plants, and greater tourism dollars, including a small air trip to allow ease of access to the Mistaken Point ecological reserve. He said he is worried about rural communities floundering when the young people leave.
Newfoundlanders, he said, deserve better.
“One guy in particular told me that he was living out west, I think in the Vancouver Area, and he explained to me how all the roads were great, and how everything was really clean out there, and the hospitals were in a good state,” said Molloy. “And he said, that he left here 20 odd years ago, and came back to see very little change here. That’s our problem with not having enough revenue to go forward. The people who grew up with an education have to leave and go to another province. The fish plants are gone up there, there’s no work in these areas, and government has failed to put anything there to attract people.”
