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Gord Johns

Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
NDP

Courtenay—Alberni
British Columbia
Voting Attendance: 66%
Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67

Government Page

Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

May/29/24 4:18:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table petition e-4769, signed by 1,014 petitioners and sponsored by Chris Alemany from Port Alberni, British Columbia in my riding. The petition calls on the Government of Canada to enact policy and budgetary resources to enable the Parliament of Canada to provide an open, trusted, federated social media presence for use by all members, senators, officers and other employees of Parliament as appropriate for communication to all Canadians. The petitioner cites that traditional social media spaces have become sources of considerable controversy, harassment, misinformation and strife; but that free, decentralized and federated alternatives are emerging. He cites that Parliament already provides a comprehensive suite of technical services such as email and web streaming to connect the people of Canada to their Parliament; that government, academic, corporate and individual entities around the world are creating their own social media presence using these same emerging technologies; and, last, that Parliament should control its own communications infrastructure to ensure that public servants within its walls can fulfill their mandates and reach every Canadian in an equitable and easy way because, as renowned Canadian media studies philosopher Marshall McLuhan said, “the medium is the message.”

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Context: House Hansard - 217 - Jun/20/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Jun/20/23 11:09:57 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-18

Madam Speaker, this debate is important to my riding. I met with Terry Farrell from the Comox Valley Record and Peter McCulley from PQB News. They talked about the sense of urgency right now, because they cannot compete with Google, Facebook and so on. PQB News had to lay off Scott Stanfield, one of the top local reporters in the Comox Valley, who has covered really important and critical stories. Now it is short-staffed and does not have the capacity to cover as much as it would like to make sure that the people in our communities are well-informed and not at a disadvantage. What we are seeing from Conservatives and finding out is that they are the gatekeepers for Google, Facebook and the big web giants. Scott Stanfield has lost his job, and we know there are going to be more if we do not make sure that local media outlets can produce good local media in our communities. Can the minister speak about the sense of urgency to get this legislation passed, so local media outlets get the proper financial supports?

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All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 176 - Mar/30/23

Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)

Mar/30/23 10:44:12 a.m.
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Re: Bill C-11

Madam Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to be able to rise in this discussion. I was just at the first-ever Qualicum Beach Film Festival. It was led by a grade 12 student in my riding. It just shows the opportunity for film and the importance of media in our communities. In fact, in Qualicum Beach, there is $18 million being spent in the film sector alone. The opportunity is endless, but they are playing at an unfair advantage. Groups across the country, such as the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, FRIENDS of Canadian broadcasting, the Writers Guild of Canada and the Canadian Media Producers Association, are getting behind this bill and calling for action. There have been delays. We hear Conservatives say that this bill is a disaster and everything is broken. Some things are broken. This is something that is broken, and it needs to be fixed. We are here to fix things. Instead of wanting to fix things, Conservatives want to keep things broken. They want to tear it down. We need to move forward. Can the minister speak about the sense of urgency there is to support Canadian producers?

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Member of Parliament

Gord Johns