SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Gord Johns

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • NDP
  • Courtenay—Alberni
  • British Columbia
  • Voting Attendance: 66%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $148,159.67

  • Government Page
  • May/2/24 6:58:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot say enough about how hard working my colleague from North Island—Powell River is, and I will mention the advocating she has done for veterans and for the people at 19 Wing in Comox. I also represent Courtenay in the Comox Valley, where many military veterans and military personnel live. I also represent the CFMETR navy base at Nanoose. From all of us, I want to thank all those who serve, and their families. I think we can all agree that we appreciate the work they do. Ombud Lick highlighted, in his report, the serious situation that the military is facing. He cited that how we treat military families and military personnel is “an issue of national security”. We know, during the decade under the Conservatives, that there were cuts and that the treatment of our military and of veterans was appalling. I hope my colleague can speak about how the government has also failed and how we need to urgently repair the damage done to those military personnel and their families, and speak about how we owe it to them to ensure they have a safe place to live.
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  • Sep/26/22 9:18:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, first, I also want to send my condolences to the people in Atlantic Canada, and I want to thank my colleague. I know he is very passionate about his home community, where I have family as well. We talk quite often about fisheries and the importance of fisheries. I want to focus my question around first responders and the Canadian military. We have members of the CAF who are there, on the ground. They are constantly being deployed, whether it be to the flooding in British Columbia or forest fires. There was a story today stating that the CAF is short one in 10 positions right now, out of the 100,000 positions it has. I ran into a man the other day. He was so proud of his son, who is a paramedic in the military. He said his son is going to leave the military because of the wages. It is not like the old days, when people could save enough money, buy a house and put some money aside. Housing is out of touch with the state of inflation. He wants to stay in the military, but he is thinking about leaving. Maybe my colleague could talk about the need to redesign the military to tackle the climate crisis and to ensure that we look after the people who are serving our country. Their roles are changing. Maybe he could speak about the importance of ensuring that we have not just military personnel, but equipment that can respond to climate emergencies.
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