The New Democrat member of Parliament for Courtenay-Alberni says the federal Liberal government must boost the tax credit given to volunteer firefighters or search and rescue workers. Gord Johns made the call today in Ottawa — saying the credit must climb to 10-thousand dollars from the current three-thousand dollars. Johns says volunteer firefighters make up more than 70 per cent of firefighting crews in Canada but — with full-time jobs and rising costs — they can’t keep volunteering on the side. Johns has been seeking additional tax credits for volunteer search crews and firefighters since 2021 — noting that of Canada’s 126-thousand firefighters, more than 90-thousand are volunteers who need a “well-deserved tax break.”
