Gord Johns

Johns first entered politics in 2008, when he was elected as a council member for the District of Tofino.[8] Out of a possible 513 votes, Johns received the highest number of votes with 389.[9] As a member of city council, Johns focused on improving and expanding community infrastructure for families and youth. This included developing hiking and cycling trail networks in the area and improving tsunami readiness along Tofino's shorelines.[10]

Johns decided not to seek a second term as a Tofino council member, choosing instead to focus on his businesses and his work as Executive Director of the Tofino–Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. Under his leadership, the Chamber grew its membership to 330 businesses, doubled its budget, and launched the highly successful Tofino Ambassador Program.[11] The Tofino Ambassador Program is a free program which seeks to expand community relations and teach residents and newcomers about West Vancouver Island’s history, ecology and business community.[12] For this program, and its other achievements, the Tofino Chamber of Commerce was awarded the BC Chamber of Commerce Chamber of the Year Honourable Mention in 2013.[13]

Johns returned to politics when he sought the NDP nomination for the newly formed riding of Courtenay—Alberni during the 2015 Canadian general election. On October 19, 2015, Johns defeated longtime conservative MP and cabinet minister John Duncan.[3]

He served as the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and is currently the Vice-Chair on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Since being elected in 2015,  Johns has served as NDP Critic for Small Business and Tourism, while also being appointed the NDP Critic for Fisheries, Oceans and Coast Guard. He served as NDP Critic for Veterans Affairs where he was able to pass a historic motion to restore lapsed funding for veterans that passed unanimously in the House of Commons. The passing of this motion made Johns the first MP since 1994 to have an item of private members’ business and an opposition motion pass unanimously in the same parliamentary session.[14]

He has also taken an active role in the parliamentary community as a co-chair of the All-Party Entrepreneur Caucus, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of the Kurds and vice-chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association.[15][16][17]

Johns\ first piece of legislation was Bill C-312, a bill to adopt a national cycling strategy. The national cycling strategy seeks to create a federal framework to promote research, help create infrastructure projects to support and increase all types of cycling in Canada, including commuter, tourism and recreational cycling. The bill was introduced in the house on October 4, 2016, and was only able to pass its first reading.[18] In May 2017, Johns received Canada Bikes "Advocate of the Year" Award for his work.[19]

In November 2017, Johns introduced M-151, a motion to compel the federal government to work with provinces, municipalities, and Indigenous communities to develop a national strategy to combat plastic pollution. This initiative was inspired by John's personal work before his life in politics to advocate for business' to be more environmentally and socially conscious. M-151 was voted on December 22, 2018 and unanimously passed. The federal government announced on June 10, 2019 that it planned to introduce a national ban on single-use plastics by 2021, including plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks.[20] The passing of the motion also caused municipalities and provinces to act by implementing various plastics bans. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador both became the first provinces to ban plastic bags.[21] Two days before the federal announcement on banning single-use plastics, Tofino and Ucluelet officially became the first two municipalities in B.C. to implement bans on single-use plastic bags and plastic straws.[22]

Johns introduced his most recent piece of legislation during the 42nd Parliament on June 12, 2019 and presented M-245, a motion that would tackle seafood fraud and mislabelling in Canada.[23] Seafood mislabelling and fraud in Canada is a serious public health issue, with 44% of seafood in restaurants sampled across five Canadian cities by Oceana Canada being mislabelled.[24] The study showed that fish fraud had a negative effect on fishers and fish stocks, which found that 30% of the seafood samples were endangered, threatened, or vulnerable species. This misleads customers on what the health of the seafood they consume is and places the burden on how fishers are affecting the populations of at-risk species.