For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

by | Apr 12, 2025

This April 1979 editorial cartoon published in the Comox District Free Press (AKA The Green Sheet), was drawn by the legendary Frank Lewis. He was a remarkable artist whose mural work can be seen all over the Island, including Victoria and Chemainus, and who contributed cartoons for the now defunct newspaper during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For a Liberal government, vote for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River riding

By

A friend called me the other day to ask how she should vote in the North Island-Powell River riding on April 28th. The caller said she has always voted NDP, but some of her friends and neighbors have been leaning toward the federal Liberal Party this time.

She wondered if she should get on the bandwagon to help the Liberals win enough seats to defeat the Poilievre Conservatives?

I gave her what seems like a confusing answer to this important question.

Here’s what I said in a nutshell: If you want to help the Mark Carney Liberals form the next federal government, then DO NOT vote for them in the North Island-Powell River riding.

That seems counter-intuitive at first, but the Liberals haven’t won this riding since somewhere in the middle of the last century. For more than 50 years, the riding has swung back and forth between the NDP and the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). 

No Liberal has ever come close to winning it, even when their party enjoyed wide popularity and won a national majority. 

And here’s the most important point: the NDP has only overcome strong Conservative support by the slimmest of margins; roughly 3,000 votes in 2019 and 2,000 in 2021. In both of those elections, the Liberals had weak campaigns in this riding and diminished national popularity.

The CPC vote, however, has been reliably consistent through the years and mostly undiluted by competing conservative parties.

What does all of that mean? It means if too many people who used to vote NDP suddenly switch to voting Liberal, that slim margin of victory disappears. And that guarantees victory for a completely unlikable Conservative candidate.

But why? My caller asked. Couldn’t the Liberal candidate win this riding and be a strong voice for the North Island in Ottawa?

I told her that for three reasons, I believe the Liberal candidate has absolutely no chance of winning this riding. 

First, historical voting trends are crystal clear: Vote totals for NDP and the CPC have consistently relegated the Liberals to a distant third place finish. To win this year, the Liberals would have to more than triple their vote count (from about 8,000 to over 24,000). That’s not just unrealistic. It’s magical thinking.

Second, until recently, this Liberal government hasn’t been widely popular, perhaps unfairly so, but the tarnish still lingers on their brand. While their new leader has injected a strong dose of hope and enthusiasm for party loyalists, not everyone has forgotten why they were so unhappy.

Third, there’s a reason the Conservatives were topping the polls before Justin Trudeau stepped down. Right-wing support has surged around the world. The anger that surfaced in the Freedom Convoy movement still exists. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith keeps stoking federal animosity. These populist signals have drawn out candidates with questionable values. For example, Aaron Gunn in the North Island.

Isn’t it the Number One goal in this election, I asked my friend, to keep those people from gaining power and turning Canada upside down, as the MAGA crowd is doing in the United States? I think it is, because defeating the Conservatives means protecting universal health care, fighting climate change, not becoming the 51st state and everything else that makes Canada great.

Yes, yes, she said, I know all that, but I want to vote FOR something, not just against the Conservatives.

As crazy as it sounds, I said, a vote for the NDP in this riding is a vote FOR a Liberal government. By voting for the NDP in the North Island-Powell River and Courtenay-Alberni ridings, you are supporting the progressive perspective, keeping it alive and giving those ideals the best chance of being solidified and expanded in Ottawa. Not voting strategically for the NDP turns back the clock on social justice.

Because the NDP still has a strong brand on Vancouver Island and the historically proven support to win this riding – actually, the best chance – voting for the NDP’s Tanille Johnston means one less seat for Poilievre and one more MP to support a potential Liberal minority government.

Or think of it the other way around, I concluded: Voting Liberal will subtract from the NDP’s total and put both parties in a dead heat tie for second place.

And, in politics, second place achieves nothing. So, I told my friend to vote for NDP Tanille Johnston.

 

 

 

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ELECTION 2025 INFO

Advance polls will open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., local time 7-10 days before Election Day. Electors must vote at their assigned poll. ID is required to vote.

To find out where and when you can start voting go to this page on the Elections Canada website

The deadline to receive mail-in ballots at Elections Canada headquarters is 6:00 p.m., Eastern time, on Election Day, and the deadline to receive mail-in ballots at local Elections Canada offices is when polls close in the riding where the office is located.

The rules for voting internationally are different than voting in Canada. When you vote in Canada, you must prove your identity and address, click here.

You have three options:

  • Show one original piece of photo identification issued by a Canadian government, whether federal, provincial or local, or an agency of that government, that contains your photo, name and address (for example, a driver’s licence), or
  • Show two pieces of identification from a list authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Both must have your name and one must also have your address (such as a health card and utility bill), or
  • You can still vote if you declare your identity and address in writing and have someone who knows you and who is assigned to your polling station vouch for you. The voucher must be able to prove their identity and address. A person can vouch for only one person (except in long-term care institutions).

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Open letter to Byron Horner, climate change questions he would have asked

by | Oct 7, 2019

Open letter to Byron Horner, climate change questions he would have asked

By DAVID ANSON

AAn open letter to Byron Horner, conservative candidate in 2019 for Courtenay-Alberni:

I like the “balanced approach” slogan on your campaign posters. However, I find this difficult to reconcile with the way the Conservative Party in Canada has positioned itself in the 21st century. Are you in the vanguard of a dramatic change, in which the Conservative Party is rediscovering an obligation to society as a whole? Or are you in the vanguard of some new public relations spin?

Andrew Scheer was a cabinet minister in the highly “unbalanced” Harper government and he gave no indication that he would be taking the Conservative Party in a new direction when he became party leader. In fact, he has actively sought Harper’s support in the 2019 election. Are there any signs that a new direction has been called for by Harper himself? That question can be answered with three letters: IDU. The International Democratic Union is an organization fanatically devoted to getting right-wing governments elected worldwide and it seems to have been the source of the robocall technique that helped Canadian Conservatives win a majority government in 2011. Steven Harper is currently the chairman of the IDU! No mellowing in old age going on for him.

A commitment to balance will require a degree of progressivism to be reintroduced into conservative ideology. Is the Conservative Party willing to change with changing circumstances, or will it simply entrench itself as the party of a failing status quo? Can the Conservative party support the transition to a steady-state economy in which human beings live sustainably, or will it continue to support a “growth” economy which booms as long as resources are abundant and pollution is discounted and then grinds to a halt when lack of planning catches up to it?

In regard to climate change, the issue identified by voters as being the most important in 2019, it is increasingly difficult to believe that the Conservative Party supports a balanced approach. I wonder if you would defend these recent developments:

— The refusal to acknowledge the severity of the climate crisis by all Conservative MPs, despite the 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change saying that CO2 emissions have to fall by 45 percent within 12 years to reach Paris Agreement goals by 2050.

— Jason Kenney’s taxpayer-funded war room to attack the “lies” of environmentalists (and presumably climate scientists) with the “truth” provided by oil and gas industry insiders.

— The attack on the carbon tax by Scheer, Kenney, and Doug Ford as a tax grab that takes money out of people’s pockets despite the provision (which is never mentioned) to give the money back.

— The Conservative long-time-in-coming climate plan calling for replacement of the tried and tested carbon tax with a vague system of fines for polluting companies which lacks specifics on targets and timelines. (One critic has said “it is like a carbon tax, with the added goal of ineffectuality”.)

— The Conservative climate plan’s faith in carbon capture technology which, in its most feasible form, will simply lower the rate of pollution rather than taking CO2 out of the air. (In any case, the more CO2 that is captured the greater the problem of storing it underground and monitoring it indefinitely for leaks. What could possibly go wrong?)

— Scheer’s unqualified support for 150 pipeline supporters in the United We Roll demonstration in Ottawa, which featured speeches about “cutting off the head of the snake” and “rolling over every Liberal in the country”. (By contrast, Scheer failed to support the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who demonstrated for climate action on September 27th.)

I got the idea to write this letter when I attended the all-candidates climate meeting in Courtenay on October 4th. It was well attended by citizens concerned about the climate crisis who will make up more than two thirds of your constituents should you be elected as the Courtenay-Alberni MP. My letter expands on the question I would have asked if you had seen fit to be at the meeting.

David Anson is a Courtenay resident

 

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Courtenay-Alberni candidates address climate crisis in forum

Courtenay-Alberni candidates address climate crisis in forum

by | Oct 7, 2019

Candidates from left, incumbent Gord Johns, Barb Biley, Sean Wood and Jonah Gowans  /  George Le Masurier photos

Courtenay-Alberni candidates address climate crisis in forum

By

At the only federal election forum in the Courtenay-Alberni riding focused strictly on the climate crisis, four of the five candidates showed up and answered questions from a panel of four and an audience of about 300 voters.

Incumbent NDP MP Gord Johns, Liberal Jonah Gowans, Green Sean Wood and Barb Biley representing the Marxist-Leninist Party spent nearly two hours on stage at the Florence Filberg Centre Oct. 4 in a deep dive into what actions the next government should take to fight climate change.

Conservative candidate Byron Horner refused to attend, and offered no explanation for his absence.

The candidates who did attend found agreement on some issues such as the need to create equality for the most vulnerable as Canada’s transitions to a greener economy, lowering the voting age to 16 and ending federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

But Wood said the other parties were just “handing out gifts” during the campaign by suddenly promising to end to oil and gas subsidies. He credited the Green Party and its leader Elizabeth May — “the most ethical and trustworthy leader” of all the parties — for getting the topics into the national conversation.

Johns detailed $48 billion in tax breaks and other gifts to corporations that his party would invest in green energy technology.

He also criticized Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau for promising in 2015 to cut fossil fuel subsidies but failing to follow through.

“The NDP put forward a motion (to end subsidies) six months ago, and the Liberals voted no. We proposed declaring a climate emergency, and the Liberals said no. Then they tabled their own (climate emergency) bill and the day after that approved purchasing the TransMountain pipeline,” he said.

That just shows “who pulls the strings,” according to Biley.

“Decisions aren’t made in Ottawa, they’re implemented in Ottawa. They are made by fossil fuel companies,” she said. “How can you declare a climate emergency and then buy a pipeline.”

Wood said government has failed to act more quickly on climate issues because the major political parties “whip” their MPs to vote as their party executive tells them to vote. And he took a shot at the provincial NDP.

“The NDP promised no Site C, no LNG, no fracking, that they would get fish farms out,” he said, but they didn’t do it. “The Green Party doesn’t whip its elected members. The constituents are our bosses. That’s how it should be.”

In her closing statement at the forum, Biley followed that idea by saying small parties raised the level of political discussion because the major parties break promises “over and over again, and just expect us to suck it up.”

“We should follow the example of youth in hitting the streets, of women taking back the night, of our coastal forest workers refusing to take concessions and assert our own plan for climate action. Empower yourself now,” she said.

She said Canada must transform its political system so it genuinely represents the people, not the parties.

Johns said in his first term as the Courtenay-Alberni incumbent MP, he has fought for the coast,” and brought conservation and other climate issues to the conversation in Parliament.

“Sixty percent of our communities are progressive. But without electoral reform, we split the vote,” he said. “Because of that, Conservatives can win this riding.”

Earlier Johns received the largest audience response of the night when he said, while addressing how previous Conservative governments gutted the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, “The first thing we should do is not let the Conservatives govern again.”

John said he was one of about 30 MPs of the 356 total in the House of Commons who attend an All-Party Caucus.

“No one party will solve the climate crisis,” he said. “It’s going to take everyone.”

Wood said his party’s polling shows support for candidates in the riding was neck-and-neck, and that the Conservatives weren’t as strong as “everybody else.”

“Don’t vote against something, vote for who you want,” he said.

Liberal Jonah Gowans said no political party has all the best ideas. The Liberal Party of Canada has a history of taking the best ideas from wherever and adopting them.

The forum was a collaboration of the Cumberland Forest Society, Project Watershed, K’omoks First Nations, Climate Strike Canada, Dogwood, the Comox Valley Conservation Partnership and the United Church.

The assembled panel that asked the first questions of the candidates included Nalan Goosen representing youth of the Comox Valley, Celia Laval of the faith community, Caelan Mclean of K’omoks First Nations and Don Castledden and David Stapley of the Conservation Partnership.

Disclosure: The author moderated the climate forum.

 

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Gord Johns touts record federal investment in Courtenay-Alberni

Gord Johns touts record federal investment in Courtenay-Alberni

by | Sep 25, 2019

NDP incumbent MP Gord Johns is seeking a second term on Oct. 21

Gord Johns touts record federal investment in Courtenay-Alberni

By

Gord Johns, the incumbent MP for the Courtenay-Alberni riding, went to Ottawa in 2015 believing that members of minority parties could get things done in the Canadian Parliament. And, he says, he proved it was true.

During Johns first term as a New Democratic Party MP, he passed two motions with unanimous support. One that benefited 40,000 Canadian veterans and another that benefited the world’s oceans. He helped bring $100 million to his riding for community infrastructure projects.

And, he says, he has been a voice for indigenous people on the national stage. He secured funding for a coordinator of the new Coast Guard Auxiliary Indigenous Peoples program that will employ 10 First Nations people located in Tofino.

Johns helped seure $375,000 for a new art gallery on Hornby Island, where 40 percent of residents make their living from the arts. And he used the media to shine a light on the derelict and abandoned vessels in Deep Bay, something the former Conservative MP John Duncan promised for years but didn’t do.

He played a key role in securing funds to restore the Sproat Lake water bombers with a new technology that enables them to fight fires at night. And he helped Pacific Coast University access $200,000 to fund a return-to-work pilot program that could ultimately expand to benefit 1.2 million Canadians who have been hurt on the job.

“We have lots of little communities in this riding, and everybody counts,” John said. “The mayors and councils know who’s been helping and working collaboratively for their benefit.”

And if the NDP hold the balance of power in a new Liberal minority government on Oct. 21, as he expects, Johns says he will have the opportunity to do even more for the Courtenay-Alberni riding.

 

First term accomplishments

Johns, who was born, raised and educated (Camosun College) on the Island, has served on the Tofino district council and as executive director of the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. He has owned and operated several businesses, including EcoEverything that specialized in sustainable products.

He is the only federal election candidate in Courtenay-Alberni who has held public office, led a nonprofit, run small businesses or has lived on the Island for a lifetime.

And, he is the first MP in 25 years to have two private member’s motions/bills pass in a single parliamentary session.

In 2016, Johns first motion restored $372 million in lapsed Veterans Affairs funding to improve services and benefits for veterans seeking medical care. The MP says there are about 40,000 veterans’ medical claims that haven’t been addressed. But reallocating those unspent dollars will clear the backlog.

The next year, Johns introduced a motion for a national strategy on plastics pollution that was passed in 2018 after months of discussions. His motion ultimately led to the Liberals pledge of a national ban on single-use plastics by 2021.

If he’s returned to parliament, Johns promises to ensure that a Liberal majority or minority government will follow through on that promise.

Johns was one of 25 federal candidates endorsed by GreenPAC, a nonpartisan nonprofit supporting environmental leaders from all major Canadian parties.

 

Conservatives failed the riding

Johns sees the Courtenay-Alberni riding as a contest between the NDP and the Conservatives. That gives voters a clear choice, he says, between a candidate who is connected to the wealthiest people who dropped into the riding from West Vancouver and himself, a local candidate who has proven he’s on the side of the people and the communities.

“While I was helping 40,000 veterans, by contrast the Conservatives had cut 1,000 jobs and closed nine offices in an attack on the veterans community,” he told Decafnation. “While the local Conservative candidate calls my bills irrelevant, his party leader, Andrew Scheer, voted for it.”

Likewise, Johns says Coastal BC needs $500 million for salmon restoration and habitat enhancement, which is part of the NDP platform. But when the Conservatives had power they cut $100 million out of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and “gutted it.”

“Now our salmon are in crisis. The Fraser River return was the lowest in history,” he said. “We talk about the devastation that forest fires cause in the north, well, this rises to that level for coastal people. It’s our food, our culture, our way of life.”

The Conservatives 97 members in the last parliament rose to argue against the carbon tax 748 times in question period, he says, but never once in favor of helping Pacific salmon.

Johns rose 652 times during his first four years, compared to former MP James Lunney’s 660 times in 15 years.

“I rose to mention Nuu-chah-nulth 48 times, Lunney rose zero,” he said. “Rising to speak in the house gives a voice to the needs and concerns of people in the riding. Under the Conservatives they had no voice. They were not represented.”

The NDP, he says, are pledging a public dental plan and pharmacare, while the Conservatives promise deep tax cuts.

“It’s a clear choice,” he said.

 

Predicts no pipeline

Johns is also confident the TransMountain pipeline won’t be built.

“The opposition of coastal people is too strong. Local people always win,” he said. “Justin Trudeau has underestimated the will of coastal people.”

Johns wants to address housing issues next. In the 1970 and 1980s, there was 10 percent of housing available at non-market rates. Today it’s only four percent. In Europe, it’s 30 percent. The NDP has pledged to build 500,000 housing units to get Canada back to the 10 percent level.

And he says the NDP will fight the inequality that has grown under recent governments, and inject fairness. Their platform includes a one percent tax on every million dollars of wealth over $20 million, a plan that would raise $70 billion over 10 years.

“We’re asking them to pay a little bit more se we can do pharmacare, dental care and fund early childhood education,” he said. “We need to pull together to make our nation work for everyone.

This article has been updated.

 

 

 

 

 

ADVANCE VOTING DATES FOR COURTENAY-ALBERNI AND NORTH-ISLAND POWELL RIVER RIDINGS

Friday, October 11, 2019
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019

Or before Oct. 15 at the Elections Canada office at 2435 Mansfield Drive
Courtenay BC V9N2M2

 

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Enter your email address to subscribe to the Decafnation newsletter.

More

“Liberal Rush” tricked voters in NDP ridings and exposed an electoral system flaw

Despite the positive big picture outcome, this election exposed a glaring vulnerability within our electoral system. And that vulnerability caused otherwise smart people to forget how our Canadian parliamentary system actually works. Namely: We do not have a proportional representation form of government. But there is a simple solution.

Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

Photo Caption hen the federal debate commission disinvited the Green Party from national debates, its leader, Jonathan Pedneault divulged an election strategy that evidently didn't make its way to North Island-Powell...

Liberal Jonah Gowans represents new gen of political junkies

Liberal Jonah Gowans represents new gen of political junkies

by | Sep 17, 2019

Liberal Jonah Gowans says he will run a positive campaign  /  George Le Masurier photo

Liberal Jonah Gowans represents new gen of political junkies

By

Twenty six-year-old Liberal Party Candidate Jonah Gowans started his political career at age 8.

Resisting his parent’s attempt to put him to bed one night, Gowans says his exasperated mother asked him, “Who do you think you are? You’re not the prime minister, you know.”

So the next day, he did an Internet search to find out what a ‘prime minister’ was and that kick started his early obsession with politics.

The federal Liberals tapped the Powell-River native to run in the Courtenay-Alberni riding. Until recently, Gowans has lived in Victoria where he works as an assistant for five BC Liberal Party MLAs.

Gowans couldn’t say why the federal party reached out to him, but he’s grateful for the opportunity to make his first run at public office.

Asked why they went outside the riding for a candidate, Liberal riding association President Ken Richardson said the party’s local board of directors believed Gowans would make a good representative in Ottawa.

“Jonah was keen to be a candidate in this riding, and he was the only candidate in Courtenay-Alberni approved by the Liberal Party’s Green Light Committee,” Richardson told Decafnation.

A new generation

As a self-described political junkie with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Ottawa, Gowans says it’s time for his generation of future leaders to do their part.

“I consider my age an asset, not a threat,” he told Decafnation this week. “We’re a generation with new ideas for the party on how to get things done, and I have as much or more experience on to move legislation as the other candidates.”

Gowans joined the Young Liberals of Canada organization at age 18 after spending time volunteering for various political parties, including the Greens, NDP and federal Liberals. He worked on federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna’s successful campaign in 2015 and volunteered regularly on Parliament Hill before moving to Victoria to take a position at the BC Legislature.

Although he’s never lived in the new Courtenay-Alberni riding, he has spent a lot of time here. His grandparents live in Port Alberni and he visited Courtenay frequently as a high school athlete who played multiple sports, such as rugby, basketball and track.

“I spent so much time at G.P. Vanier, the coaches there still recognize me,” Gowans said. “I travelled to Vanier on 33 weekends of my senior year in high school.”

Campaign issues

On the issues, Gowans is focused on the environment and affordability. He says the concept of affordability permeates many aspects of Canadian life, including housing and health care.

“Young people and seniors are most affected by the lack of affordable housing,” he said. “That’s high on my list.”

He supports Prime Minister Trudeau’s commitment for a national pharmacare program that would extend prescription drug coverage to all Canadians.

“And, of course, jobs. Creating more local jobs helps make everything more affordable,” he said.

The environment and the effects of climate change are important to politically active members of his generation, Gowans says.

He thinks Trudeau has taken a fair and balanced approach to the TransMountain pipeline by “taking our lumps, going back to the drawing board and working through the process, without an adversarial mindset.”

He says everyone on the BC coast fears the consequences of an oil spill.

“But fear can’t be the only thing guiding public policy,” he said. “We won’t get off oil entirely anytime soon. The BC government has set a target of 2040 to eliminate gas vehicles, but we still won’t be oil free even then.”

Gowans believes the pipeline has a place “for the moment,” and he trusts Environment Minister McKenna to stand up for the environment and reel Trudeau back in “if he’s gone too far.”

 

A clean campaign

Gowans says he will campaign on his ability to get things done.

In grade 12, Gowans and some friends restarted Powell River’s Youth Resource Center and raised enough funds to finance its first year. Then they handed it off to younger teenagers — one of his younger brothers included — and the center is still going eight years later.

He thinks the Oct. 21 election will come down to choice on who Canadians trust the most: Liberal leader Justin Trudeau or Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.

“In many ways, it’s a similar choice that voters had in 2015, when not everyone knew Trudeau,” he said. “Now they do and they will feel more comfortable with their vote for him.”

Gowans says he will run a positive campaign. He doesn’t plan to launch any negative attack ads on incumbent MP Gord Johns as the Conservative candidate Byron Horner has been doing.

“I will show people an alternative approach that I think would work better, not drag somebody else down,” he says. “If you say some policy or other is wrong, show us how you would make it better.”

Gowans plans extensive door knocking in his 8,900 square kilometer riding that stretches from Nanoose to Tofino and from Lasqueti, Denman and Hornby islands to Bamfield. It even includes unlikely pieces of the Comox Valley you would think of as Comox.

He knows the incumbent — NDP Gord Johns — is well-liked and will be a formidable opponent. But he thinks of himself as seasoned in facing tough opponents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADVANCE VOTING DATES FOR COURTENAY-ALBERNI AND NORTH-ISLAND POWELL RIVER RIDINGS

Friday, October 11, 2019
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Monday, October 14, 2019

Or before Oct. 15 at the Elections Canada office at 2435 Mansfield Drive
Courtenay BC V9N2M2

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Enter your email address to subscribe to the Decafnation newsletter.
More

“Liberal Rush” tricked voters in NDP ridings and exposed an electoral system flaw

Despite the positive big picture outcome, this election exposed a glaring vulnerability within our electoral system. And that vulnerability caused otherwise smart people to forget how our Canadian parliamentary system actually works. Namely: We do not have a proportional representation form of government. But there is a simple solution.

Greens dropped ridings to avoid vote splitting … ???

Photo Caption hen the federal debate commission disinvited the Green Party from national debates, its leader, Jonathan Pedneault divulged an election strategy that evidently didn't make its way to North Island-Powell...