NDP forces study into Modi government’s alleged foreign interference in Canada
2025 Your Favorite Spot in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford calendar contest
If you would like to share your favorite spot in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford and have it included in the 2025 edition, submit your photo.
Submit your photo(s) by email to: [email protected]
Put CALENDAR PHOTO in the subject line.
Include the following information in your email:
- Your name
- The location of your photo
- Your address, including postal code
- A brief (40 words or fewer) description of your photo
Deadline to submit is September 1st, 2024
Important guidelines for submitting photos
Each year, a number of photos are disqualified from consideration because the image size is too small, or the images include humans. Following are some hints for choosing and submitting a winning photo:
- Photos must be high resolution - at least 1MB.
- Do not send directly from your phone. Image files are compressed by phones when they are emailed.
- Upload your photo(s) to a computer or tablet before sending.
- Attach the original high resolution image to the email (send as an attachment).
- Pick a photo that will work with the shape of the calendar. Landscape is the best option.
Official Rules:
- Your favorite spot must be in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding.
- Photos must be in jpg or tiff format.
- Photos cannot include humans.
- No more than 3 photos per household may be submitted.
- Photos must be colour and at least 1MB in size.
- Deadline to submit is September 1st, 2024
Nominate someone who deserves a King's Coronation Medal
We will be accepting nominations until September 1st, 2024
MP MacGregor's Bill C-277: National Strategy on Brain Injuries Act, passes unanimously at second reading vote
For immediate release
June 12th, 2024
NDP: A National Brain Injury Strategy will shine light on “invisible epidemic”
OTTAWA— On Wednesday, with a vote of 324 in favour and zero against, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor’s plan to create a national strategy for prevention, treatment, and awareness of brain injuries passed unanimously at second reading in Parliament.
“This is an important step forward for an initiative that started locally,” MP MacGregor said, “This work came about because of the passion and lived experience of several of my constituents, and I am so proud and grateful for their work. I especially want to thank Janelle Breese Biagioni from the CGB Centre for Traumatic Life Losses, Chris Rafuse from the Cowichan Brain Injury Society, and local advocate and brain injury survivor Kyle Mockford, among many others. Working together with community groups across Canada, Bill C-277 has become a national campaign for greater awareness, prevention, and treatment of brain injuries.”
Experts say that many who experience traumatic brain injuries go undiagnosed and untreated because of stigma and lack of awareness. Even if they receive treatment, the current state of brain injury services and supports across the country is characterized by fragmentation, isolation, and chronic underfunding. Often, support services for families and brain-injury survivors operate as non-profit organizations with little or no government funding. Some of these organizations are teetering on the brink of closure.
“Well over 1.5 million Canadians have suffered a traumatic brain injury, and the long-term effects can be devastating,” said MacGregor. “Among them are an estimated 1 in 8 Canadian women, who have experienced a traumatic brain injury because of gender-based violence. I’m happy to see a national brain injury strategy get support across party lines.”
Bill C-277 has been endorsed by medical experts, people with lived experience, Brain Injury organizations across the country, and local municipalities including Duncan, Langford, North Cowichan, Nanaimo, and the City of Victoria.
For media requests, please contact [email protected]
Natural Health Products C-368
I am proud to provide you with an update on the progression of Bill C-368, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (natural health products). I was very pleased to add my name as a joint seconder to the bill, as many constituents have been in contact with my office on this file. Your advocacy has given me the opportunity to better appreciate and understand the importance of NHPs to people in our community. I want to thank you for your continued efforts that have led to this moment. It is because of you that we are seeing progress on this file.
NHPs have a long history of use in Canada as a low-risk and affordable way of promoting health. New Democrats know that they must remain accessible to all Canadians. Meanwhile, we also know that NHPs need their own regulatory framework and category to certify their safety and to make sure they remain available to the millions of Canadians that use them. Unfortunately, through their 2023 Budget, the Liberals snuck extensive regulatory changes for NHPs into their legislation. Thankfully, Bill C-368 will reverse that. The Liberals voted against this bill. It was thanks to the votes of the NDP that this bill will be brought forward to the Health Committee to be examined by MPs to ensure that NHPs remain accessible for all Canadians.
I made the following remarks during my speech in the House of Commons on the bill at Second Reading:
“I want to congratulate the NHP community and industry, which have been very actively engaged on this issue through their work. I really want to single out the local businesses in my riding of Cowichan—Malahat—Langford and the constituents who live on Vancouver Island. I congratulate them for their advocacy, for stepping up to the plate and for engaging me as their elected representative, because it has worked. I am proud to say that, in this place, as their elected representative, I will be pleased to vote to send Bill C-368 to committee.”
You can watch my whole speech below.
MP MacGregor calls on Liberals to reverse decision to end recreational fishing in Port Renfrew
On Tuesday April 30th during question period I urged the Liberals to reverse their decision to expand the no-fishing zone to include Port Renfrew.
If their decision goes through, Port Renfrew and the Pacheedaht First Nation’s economy will be devastated. Recreational fishing brings in over 26 million dollars per season to the community. I have voiced my concerns with the Liberal’s decision on this before, creating an online petition that promotes science-based regulations for recreational fishing at Port Renfrew.
These abrupt salmon fishing closures will impact over 100 small businesses, and yet the Liberal government has failed to provide clear data to justify this sudden decision. Our government needs to consider the communities that will feel the impacts from their decisions, yet they have refused to share their data and conduct proper consultations with the people of Port Renfrew and the Pacheedaht First Nation.
You can watch the full video, and a response from Parliamentary Secretary for the DFO here.
Save Port Renfrew Sport Fishing
I want to bring to your attention an important e-petition I sponsored in support of recreational fishing in Port Renfrew. It was initiated by Chris Tucker, President of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce, and it was published on April 10th. It is open for signatures until May 10th.
Closures by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), without notices, threaten over 100 small businesses and the livelihoods of the owners and employees who run them. DFO has failed to provide credible data to justify the closures, leaving the local economies of many communities severely impacted.
E-petition e-4919 advocates for a shift away from arbitrary and punitive regulations imposed by DFO, moving instead to evidence-based policies that protect the economic stability of small coastal communities like Port Renfrew.
I have been a supporting the recreational fishing community and bringing their concerns to Ottawa for many years. In 2021, a cross-party representation of BC MPs and I wrote a letter to previous Minister Jordan in support of marked selective Chinook fishery opportunities that DFO is considering for the Pacific region. In 2023 and 2024 NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron and I wrote to Ministers Murray and Lebouthillier regarding the closing of Tidal Area 20 in efforts to protect the Southern Resident Killer Whale and wild pacific salmon.
Together, with your support and advocacy, we have a chance, through e-petition 4919, to tell the Government of Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that protecting our recreational fishing in Port Renfrew should be a key goal. I hope you’ll join me in signing and sharing this petition.
Letter to Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier
My colleague MP Lisa-Marie Barron and I wrote to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Minister on behalf of several Vancouver Island coastal communities, including Port Renfrew, regarding protection efforts for vital species such as the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) and wild pacific salmon and the closure of Tidal Area 20 by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). Those out on the water have firsthand knowledge of the marine ecosystems that surround Vancouver Island, yet they are largely being left out in DFO`s decision-making process.
This potential closure will have detrimental impacts to many who rely on sport fishing for their livelihoods, yet the Sport Fishing Advisory Committee has not been meaningfully consulted causing unnecessary strain on Sport Fishers and costal communities. Again, the protection of the Southern Residential Killer Whale and wild pacific salmon is of upmost importance to everyone involved. And those on the water have local knowledge necessary in developing effective solutions.
You can read the full letter here
Brain injury community groups launch campaign for a National Brain Injury Strategy
Victoria – Abbotsford resident Shirley Wilson is starting the new year on a journey without her son, Jacob. Jacob suffered a traumatic brain injury that eventually led to his death by toxic drug poisoning in 2021.
Shirley Wilson is now part of a growing grassroots movement committed to enhancing care and supports for brain injury patients and their families.
“Coordinated brain injury care and supports are desperately needed, and a national strategy is necessary," says Shirley.