Welcome to my MP website.

Dear friends and neighbours,

Welcome to my MP website! It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the people of Courtenay-Alberni as Member of Parliament since 2015.

The federal riding of Courtenay-Alberni is located on Vancouver Island in the territories of the Nuu chah nulth, Coast Salish and K’omoks peoples. It has an area of 8,571 square kilometres with more than 100,000 people throughout 31 villages, towns and cities and eleven First Nations communities.

The purpose of this website is to keep you updated on the work I am doing in the riding of Courtenay-Alberni and in Parliament; and, to provide contact information should you wish to reach me or seek assistance from our team to access federal programs or services.

I am fighting for affordable housing, climate action, universal public pharmacare, dental care, fairness for seniors, families, veterans and for meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

Currently, I serve in these roles:

NDP Critic for Mental Health and Harm Reduction

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected] concerning your ideas, concerns and issues. I am committed to ensuring that the voices of my constituents are heard in the House of Commons.

Together, we must forge a better future for our country and our planet, resolve inequality in our society, create a just and clean energy economy, reconcile historical wrongs and ensure that no one is left behind.

Gord Johns
Member of Parliament
Courtenay-Alberni

Resources for you

As your Member of Parliament, I am pleased to provide assistance with federal agencies, arrange greeting letters for special occasions, answer questions about federal legislation, and listen to your feedback.

Our office has been able to assist thousands of families with a variety of requests in Courtenay-Alberni

To help you, please contact our constituency office by calling 250-947-2140 or emailing [email protected]

Click for more information on the following:

Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees

Canada Revenue Agency

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Employment Insurance

Canada Student Loans

Passports

Birthday & Anniversary Greetings

Social Insurance Number (SIN) information

Meeting Request

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Invite Gord to your event

Canada Dental Benefit: How to Apply

Canadian Dental Care Plan

In The News

IN THE NEWS - 2021 MV Zim Kingston Spill Investigation Released

The Transporation Safety Board is calling on the federal government for more urgent action to keep oceans and shorelines safe from similar marine emergencies. Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns shares his reaction to the findings.

"There's no confidence by coastal people that there's a sense of urgency from the Government of Canada to come up with a coordinated plan."

IN THE NEWS- NDP MP Gord Johns supports lightstations being open

The Canadian Coast Guard, part of the federal Fisheries Department, has announced it is planning to remove a total of four lightkeepers from two stations, one at Pachena Point and the other at Carmanah Point, both on the West Coast Trail.

A meeting between Fishers and Oceans Canada staff and MP Gord Johns, is planned for early in the coming week to talk about destaffing plans for two lightstations off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“When we hear [of] incidents happening, lightkeepers are front and centre,” Johns said. “They are the first to respond in terms of helping support the overall response” which can include the coast guard and CFB Comox.

United Nations' International Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution

Ottawa-

Today is the eve of the fourth session of the United Nations’ International Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. The session will take place in Ottawa, hosted by Canada.

This morning, I spoke to reporters from the Press Gallery about my motion to take action against plastic waste exports. Motion M-120 seeks to close loopholes that allow Canada to export plastic waste through the United States to developing countries which are ill-equipped to deal with them sustainably. I was joined by Jim Puckett (executive director and founder of Basel Action Network), Pui Yi Wong (Basel Action Network in Malaysia), Lilly Woodbury (regional manager at Surfrider Foundation Canada), and Chloé Dubois (executive director and co-Founder of The Ocean Legacy Foundation).

This news conference also coincides with Earth Day, with this year's theme of "Planet vs. Plastics" aiming to raise awareness of the damage caused by plastic pollution.

In 2018, my motion (M-151) for a national strategy to combat ocean plastics passed unanimously in the House of Commons with all-party support. It led to the banning of single use plastics by the Government and yet there is much more to do.

To watch the entire press conference on CPAC, go here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50cJwHuZThI

IN THE NEWS- NDP blast conservatives for missing bulk of parliamentary trip studying drug crisis

OTTAWA—The Liberals and New Democrats are slamming the federal Conservatives for failing to show up for most of a cross-country study of Canada’s toxic drug crisis, an issue leader Pierre Poilievre has heavily politicized in recent weeks.

MPs from all major political parties embarked on a weeklong, three-province, multi-city tour last week as part of the House of Commons health committee’s study into the overdose crisis that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Canadians in the past eight years.

“I mean, it just shows they’re not serious. They don’t want to listen to the people,” said Gord Johns, the NDP’s mental health and harm reduction critic.

“They don’t want to hear from the experts or the doctors or actually meet the people on the ground.”

IN THE NEWS- Funding cuts put ghost gear retrieval in Jeopardy

A multi-million-dollar funding cut will harm coastal restoration projects on the west coast, says Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns. And the timing—and secrecy—of the cut couldn’t have come at a more puzzling time, he added.

Ottawa, Ontario recently played host to the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Johns said it was just after the INC-4 session that he discovered the ghost gear retrieval fund was cut. No public announcement was made.

IN THE NEWS- Federal Funding Cuts will sink efforts to tackle ocean plastics

Ocean cleanup groups worry years of work and good jobs tied to cleaning up plastic pollution on Canadian shorelines are set to flounder after the federal government cut a critical source of funding in the recent budget.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans' (DFO) Ghost Gear Fund - which sunk nearly $60 million into 139 projects to alleviate the problem of ocean plastics - isn't outlined in the recent federal budget, said Josh Charleson, relationships director with the Coastal Restoration Society based in B.C.

The federal government tabled a budget that seemingly cuts funding to clean up ocean plastic pollution just before hosting international negotiations for a global plastics treaty, Johns said.

“I’m absolutely flabbergasted and frustrated and coastal people are in disbelief. [The Ghost Gear Fund] became a renowned program, a model around the world.”