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IN THE NEWS-Victoria News- NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and MP Gord Johns talks health care with experts in Qualicum Beach

The federal NDP leader and Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns were in Qualicum Beach Tuesday (Jan 24) for a roundtable meeting of experts on seniors health care. Johns said the roundtable included health professionals, as well as people with lived experience in the health-care system. 

Johns said he and Singh head "loud and clear" from the experts that there is a "significant need" for retention, recruitment and support of health-care workers, including more supports for students who are studying in Canada to become doctors and nurses. 

"Good care comes when hospitals and long-term care homes are properly staffed", said Johns. "The most important way to improve health care is more health-care workers" 

IN THE NEWS- Gord urges Liberal Government to prioritize mental health support

OTTAWA – Last week, NDP Mental Health and Harm Reduction Critic Gord Johns sent a letter to the Minister of Finance urging her to prioritize mental health and substance use care in the government’s 2023 Federal Budget by creating better programs to support Canadians.

“Canadians need mental health supports. After doing everything right to protect our communities during a global pandemic, people have been experiencing extreme stress, anxiety and feelings of isolation. They need more access to services that can help them,” said Johns. “The Liberals have continued to make promises then they never deliver on them—and it's Canadians who are paying the price. While the Liberals stall on funding commitments, families are losing their loved ones— something needs to change."

IN THE NEWS - iPolitics - 'People are dying': National standards delayed as talks continue over $4.5-billion mental health transfer

Gord Johns, Doherty's NDP counterpart, wrote to Minister Chrystia Freeland last week to ask that the upcoming budget prioritize the transfer. He said it would be "unconscionable" and "completely absurd" should the development of standards get in the way of a transfer at this point.

"There is a clear consensus from the mental health community (that) standards should not delay the Canada Mental Health Transfer," he said. "This is not how you respond to a crisis. This is not how you respond to ER rooms overflowing and a health care system near collapse."

Johns said he fears the current situation around service access will get worse with a recession underway. The cost of living is rising, and that added stress is going to exacerbate people's mental health issues and substance abuse, he said.

IN THE NEWS- Bus Service to Vancouver Island's west coast paused due to low ridership

The Tofino Bus has put its west coast route on hold until partway through spring. 

Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns said the federal government needs to be ready to support the province to establish service.

"Wilson's has made it clear for a long time that they can't afford to run these routes and lose more money. They bled a lot through COVID and they just simply aren't going to recover in the shortterm and they can't afford to subsidize it," Johns said. "The province can't continue to shoulder all this. They need a federal partner, the federal government, jurisdictionally, is downloading again and it's unacceptable. They need to take leadership here,"

Johns is calling on the federal government to better support private bus companies.

IN THE NEWS – Nanaimo Bulletin - West Coast officials scramble for solutions after losing bus service

Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns said the federal government needs to be ready to support the province to establish service.

"Wilson's has made it clear for a long time that they can't afford to run these routes and lose more money. They bled a lot through COVID and they just simply aren't going to recover in the shortterm and they can't afford to subsidize it," Johns said. "The province can't continue to shoulder all of this. They need a federal partner. The federal government, jurisdictionally, is downloading again and it's unacceptable. They need to take leadership here."

Johns is calling on the federal government to better support private bus companies.

"They need direct funding that's carved out and allocated for the private sector so they can operate these routes that are in jeopardy and under threat," he said. "They're playing a critical and pivotal role in connecting communities, in fact the government is kind of relying on the private sector without supporting them ... They're offering hundreds of thousands of kilometres in non-subsidized routes and really are the only mode of transportation in rural communities."

 

IN THE NEWS – CBC – Suspension of Vancouver Island intercity bus service prompts calls for a public option

Johns says that model is an "excellent" one, but that funding for the service remained short-term — lasting until 2026 — and the federal government should work on building long-term infrastructure.

"Right now, it's being studied at the Transport Committee," he told Kathryn Marlow, host of CBC's All Points West.

"What we're hearing from multiple witnesses is that … we need a national service or we need to provide funding for the private sector operators now."

In addition to B.C. Bus North, northern B.C. and the central Interior have also had other regional operators like Ebus step in after the departure of Greyhound.

TORONTO SUN - EDITORIAL: Government accountability? There's an app for that

The Globe has reported the company that received the lion’s share of the ArriveCAN project relies almost entirely on subcontractors. Neither the government nor the company will reveal the names of the subcontractors.

 

Bloc Quebecois MP Julie Vignola said the redactions mean taxpayers have no way of knowing who was paid what or what service they delivered.

 

“The goal is to ensure that taxpayers got their money’s worth and to suggest improvements if ever a similar situation were to arise again,” she said.

 

The NDP’s Gord Johns said the government is avoiding transparency.

IN THE NEWS – Globe and Mail - High level of redactions in ArriveCan app documents concerns MPs

NDP MP and committee member Gord Johns said the redactions contradict the government's pledges to be transparent.

"They're hiring really expensive consultants to hire really expensive consultants to deliver services for Canadians. We saw that with GCstrategies," he said.

"They're avoiding transparency on this because they don't want to, again, be embarrassed for the lack of accountability."

IN THE NEWS- High level of redactions in ArriveCan invoices concern MPs on operations committee

IN THE NEWS- The Canada Border Services Agency has handed over hundreds of pages of documents related to the government's use of private contractors to build the ArriveCan app, but the chair of the committee that requested the files over two months ago says the agency's high level of redactions is unacceptable. 

NDP MP and committee member Gord Johns said the redactions contradict the government's pledges to be transparent. 

"They're hiring really expensive consultants to hire really expensive consultants to deliver services for Canadians. We saw that with GC strategies," "They're avoiding transparency on this because they don't want to, again, be embarrassed for the lack of accountability," Johns said. 

 

EDITORIAL – Firefighters face challenge

The fire chiefs expressed their concerns to government officials and politicians in Ottawa this week. The chiefs said representatives from all parties were receptive and offered suggestions. They note New Democrat MP Gord Johns rose in Parliament to highlight the importance of retaining volunteer firefighters. He also retabled his bill to increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit. And the fire chiefs are hopeful the program to replenish training and equipment is considered for the 2023 budget.