In The News

IN THE NEWS- Heat Raise Risk of Repeat of Last Summer's Record- Breaking Wildfires

Persistent drought and months of above-average temperatures have escalated the risk of another record-breaking wildfire season, federal ministers said Wednesday as they warned about the urgent need to address climate change.

The 2023 fire season was Canada's worst on record, with more than 6,600 fires burning more than 15 million hectares, an area almost twice the size of Lake Superior. It forced more than 230,000 people from their homes - including the entire city of Yellowknife - and created unprecedented smoke conditions across much of the country and into the United States.

NDP MP Gord Johns, who has also long advocated for the credit to go to $10,000, agreed that the government's move was a good start but not enough. Johns said Canada has lost 30,000 volunteer firefighters and search and rescue personnel since 2016.

"We need to do everything we can to try to ensure that we support recruitment," he said.

Johns also said Canada needs to invest in a national firefighting team, with 400 personnel and a fleet of planes to support provinces.

With the coming fire season looking to be as bad as 2023, if not worse, "the federal government needs to step up their game," Johns said.

Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs in Expression Appreciation

I joined Ken McMullen, President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs in expressing appreciation for the announcement today that the federal budget will double the volunteer firefighter and search and rescue tax credit. This is truly historic although my bill asked for triple so we will keep pushing as these volunteers deserve our support. This only happened with the efforts across the country by volunteers, their families and friends. Support from almost two hundred municipal and regional governments. I am also personally grateful to my friend Parksville Councillor Sean Wood for his vision and his initiative in bringing this idea to me. Countless meetings with ministers and repeated interventions in parliament along with thousands of signatures on petitions, tabled in the House of Commons by MPs from all political parties did the trick. Making Parliament work from the community up! Here's Denman Island volunteers last month with me, Jagmeet and CVRD Director Daniel Arbour:

Every Party has tabled petitions for volunteer firefighter, search, & rescue tax credit

A huge honour to rise in the House of Commons to table over 70 petitions in support of my Bill C-310, calling for the firefighter tax credit for search and rescue volunteers and volunteer firefighters to be increased from $3,000 to $10,000. I was pleased to give kudos to every member in the House and every party, because we have had petitions tabled from the Green Party, the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Bloc and of course New Democrats on behalf of firefighters and search and rescue volunteers from coast to coast to coast calling for the government to make this change in the upcoming budget. A tribute to all of the selfless hours these volunteers put in, putting their lives on the line for us. It is critical we support them and that the government supports them in this call to action. More than 165 communities have written to the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs to support this bill.

Watch Video Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y4VRbIExHM

Building of a New community for Ahousaht First Nation

Hundreds of Ahousaht members have been living in the Alberni Valley (for four generations!), still very much tied to family and relations in their ancestral home on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, but without a central place to live or celebrate culture in Port Alberni.

That is changing, thanks to an incredible vision and partnership to build 35 affordable homes, an outdoor gathering space and playground, and a cultural centre in the former site of Glenwood Elementary School in Port Alberni.

Ahousaht First Nation leaders first seized the vision of building homes for their members living in the Alberni Valley a few years ago. They formed the Čitaapi Mahtii Housing Society, to follow traditional protocols and seek the partnerships needed to build these homes.

They conducted Nuu-chah-nulth protocols and sought the blessing of the Hupacasath and Tseshaht nations (in whose territories these new homes will be built). They worked with the City of Port Alberni to secure land (donated by the City) and establish the proper zoning.

They developed a dedicated team of professionals - from architects to development specialists - and they secured seed funding from CMHC before successfully applying for $6.4 million

Congratulations to Ahousaht First Nation, the Čitaapi Mahtii Housing Society, Josie Osborne and the BC NDP government, Sharie Minions - Port Alberni Mayor, her Council and City staff and the Port Alberni Friendship Centre for making this happen. It will make a difference to many lives and many families for generations to come!

IN THE NEWS- Advocacy groups decry federal government's shutdown of Mental Health Website App

Mental Health and addictions experts are slamming the federal government's decision to shut down an online service that offered help with finding free counselling and peer support over the last four years.

Health Canada announced in February that it would stop funding the Wellness Together Canada website and PocketWell app on April 3. Despite a public plea from an alliance of 18 mental health and addictions organizations for the government to reconsider, the service ends at 11:59 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

The loss of the site is "deeply concerning," said New Democrat MP Gord Johns in an email to The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

"Canadians need more mental health support, not less and the Liberals need to tell people what no-cost and accessible mental health supports will replace PocketWell and Wellness Together," said Johns, who is the NDP's mental health and harm reduction critic

IN THE NEWS- Liberals double down on safer supply, commit to renewed funding

Canada's mental health and addictions minister says Ottawa plans to "review and renew funding for federally funded 'safer supply' pilot programs- a commitment that comes just as funding for a majority of these programs was about to lapse.

NDP mental health and harm reduction critic Gord Johns wrote his own letter to Saks this week, urging her to provide clarity on whether these programs can count on Ottawa to continue their work.

He noted that not only would it put program clients' lives on the line, it also has created hardship for those running these programs to recruit and retain front-line workers, which contributes to an "unsafe work environment".

"These are the people on the front lines of this process, and they rely heavily on the SUAP (Substance Use and Addiction Program) to ensure that their patients are getting the life-saving drugs that they need." Johns said in an interview with iPolitics.

Tour the Shipbreaking Operation at Union Bay

Thanks to Ray Rewcastle, Ashlee Gerlock and Marilynne Manning of Concerned Citizens of Baynes Sound (CCOBS) for taking time to meet with me on Monday and to tour the beach adjacent to the ship breaking operation at Union Bay. It is common sense that Canada should have effective ship recycling regulations in place for end of life vessels, including a requirement for floating dry dock for large vessels, self contained to protect the ecosystem and workers. No such regulations exist and this operation certainly doesn’t do anything like this.

As a result, Environmental Compliance BC has now served the operator, Deep Water Recovery with a Pollution Abatement Order related to activities near #UnionBay. The Order requires them to immediately cease discharge of contaminated effluent & hire a Qualified Professional to assess, monitor & report on site conditions. Canada is a shipbreaking nightmare. I have been up in the House of Commons and met with successive federal ministers on multiple occasions since Joyce Murray was DFO minister. DFO officials under the current minister Diane Lebouthillier give the appearance of running and hiding from the issue but I’m not going to relent as I’m expecting to meet with her again to fight for the community and the environment in two weeks.

Signed Letter to Minister of Heritage to allocate funding to Indigenous Language Programs

Here is my letter to the Minister of Heritage with copies to the P.M. and the Ministers of Indigenous-Crown Relations and Indigenous Services about her Department's intention to change the formula used by the government to allocate funding to Indigenous language programs. This could result in a catastrophic reduction of support for B.C First Nations language programs by 50%. This is both short-sighted of the government and hypocritical given the Prime Minister's declaration that there is no relationship more important for Canada than with its First Nations. So much progress has been made to re-awaken or restore Indigenous languages in our provinces and this will be devastating for educators and learners.

NDP wants help for Volunteer Firefights in the budget

OTTAWA— On Wednesday, Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh toured the Denman Island Volunteer Fire Department on Vancouver Island with NDP MP Gord Johns (Courtney – Alberni).

Singh acknowledged the selfless work of volunteer firefighters and search and rescue volunteers across the country and called for an increase to the tax credit they receive in the upcoming budget.

“Last summer wildfires raged across Canada. Families lost everything and, hundreds of miles away from the fires, it wasn’t safe for kids to play outside because of the smoke,” said Singh. “In the middle of all the chaos, it was often volunteer firefighters that saved peoples’ lives, their homes and our rural communities. These are people who often have other nine-to-five jobs. They’re doing this heroic work in their free time and they deserve some financial help this tax season.”

Johns introduced a private member’s bill that would increase the firefighter and search and rescue volunteers tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000. In addition to giving these volunteers more money in their pockets, it would also help local governments and communities to recruit and retain these vital first responders.

“We’re asking the federal government to increase the tax credit in the budget so volunteer firefighters and search and rescue personnel can get more money back sooner,” said Johns. “These men and women keep our communities safe in the middle of disasters. These are the people who show up when you’re having the worst day imaginable, and your family is at risk of losing everything. The very least the government can do it get them some financial help so that they can keep doing this incredible work for our rural communities.”

NDP calls for a National School Lunch program to be implemented in the upcoming budget

COMOX, B.C. – On Wednesday, Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joined by local NDP MPs Rachel Blaney and Gord Johns called for a National School Lunch program to be implemented in the upcoming budget.Right now, food bank usage across the country is at its highest level since 1989 and more than one million children are living in poverty. Canada is the only G7 country without a National School Food Program.  

“Parents are doing everything they can to take care of their kids, but the cost of food just keeps going up. In a country as rich as ours, no child should ever have to go to school hungry,” said Singh. “While parents make big sacrifices to keep food on the table, grocery store CEOs like Galen Weston are making record profits at Canadians’ expense.  “While families fall further behind and grocery CEOs get rich, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives voted against a school lunch program for kids this past December.  And when he was in government, he gave $55 billion in tax giveaways to large corporations including Galen Weston and Jim Pattison companies. This is shameful. Ensuring kids have enough to eat should not be up for debate.”

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