Helen Johns

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For the Olympic swimmer, see Helen Johns (swimmer).

Helen Johns (born April 24, 1953) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was born in Toronto, Ontario She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.

Johns has a Bachelor of Arts degree from York University, a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Windsor and an M.B.A. from Simon Fraser University. She worked as a controller of small and medium-sized businesses for fifteen years before entering public life, and was also the Director and Treasurer of the Huron United Way.

Johns was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1995, defeating Liberal John Jewitt and incumbent New Democrat Paul Klopp in the riding of Huron. For the next four years, she served as a backbench government member.

In the 1999 provincial campaign, Johns defeated fellow Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Barb Fisher for the Tory nomination in the redistributed riding of Huron—Bruce, and narrowly defeated Liberal candidate Ross Lamont in the general election. On June 17, 1999, she was named Citizenship, Culture and Recreation. Following a cabinet shuffle on February 8, 2001, she was named Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, under Tony Clement.

When Ernie Eves replaced Harris as Premier on April 15, 2002, he named Johns as his minister of Minister of Agriculture and Food. She held this position until the 2003 election, and also served as interim Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in early 2003.

In 2003, Johns was widely criticized for her department's handling of a tainted-meat scare in Aylmer, Ontario. It was alleged that the OMAF had information on dangerous practices at the Aylmer Meat Packers company for several months before the story was reported in the public press. Johns was unable to give a satisfactory account of her department's actions, and in the 2003 election campaign claimed that she was "too busy" to address the matter in full detail.

These comments cost her vital support, and she lost her riding to Liberal Carol Mitchell by more than 3,000 votes in 2003.