BEAVER BANK: Community volunteer and former HRM Councillor, Brad Johns, is seeking the PC nomination in Sackville-Beaver Bank.
Johns has deep roots in the Sackville-Beaver Bank community. He attended the Middle Sackville family of schools, as well as Sackville High. He then pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Canadian History from Mount Saint Vincent University.
Johns also has extensive experience working with children in the education system. He worked for the Halifax Regional School Board with special needs students as a teacher’s assistant and worked for two years with inner city youth. After university, he was employed at Harold T Barrett Junior High, Beaver Bank-Monarch and Beaver Bank-Kinsac Elementary, as the school’s librarian.
As a strong believer in our public education system, Johns says he is disappointed with Premier Stephen McNeil’s handling of the teachers’ situation.
“I’m a parent and the need for real reforms in our classrooms is one of the biggest motivating factors behind my decision to re-enter pubic life. It’s hard to believe that Stephen McNeil has mismanaged these negotiations so badly that we are now facing the first teachers’ strike in our province’s history,” Johns says. “I have witnessed firsthand the time and personal commitment that teachers invest in their jobs. Students and parents need to know the education system will be there for them.
“The Premier should immediately listen to, and work this out,with the people that are responsible for educating our children.”
Johns has always been active in his community, including Scouts Canada, Camp Lone Cloud, Sackville Freemason Lodge and the Sackville Kinsmen. He is also a Life Member of the Springfield Lake Rec Center. In his role as Councillor, Johns has a long and impressive list of community accomplishments and has had the opportunity to sit on a wide variety of community and HRM boards and committees, including the Chair of the Halifax Regional Board of Police Commissioners, and has also served as Deputy Mayor.
He said he is optimistic about the direction that Jamie Baillie wants to take the province.
“Jamie Baillie gets it. He knows that rather cutting services from our most vulnerable people, we need to invest and grow the economy. I’m very eager to be a part of his team and particularly support his mental health initiatives, his strong job creation plan, and his desire to restore pride in this great province of ours.”
Johns, who served for 16 years as the Halifax Regional Municipal Councillor, is a lifelong resident of Sackville and is proud to be the third generation of his family to call that community home. He is now raising his two daughters, Maria, 8, and Jenna, 10, there as well.
