Mr. Speaker, as chair of the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, I rise to draw the attention of the House to the fact that tomorrow is World AIDS Day.
I am disgusted that this minority Conservative government has taken money out of the hands of Canadians living with HIV-AIDS by redirecting $15 million in funding to the Gates Foundation.
The Minister of Health must immediately reinstate this money and commit to never again tampering with funding for the Canadian HIV-AIDS community.
Yesterday, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health said in the House, “the government has invested $84.4 million in HIV-AIDS and that is more than any other government in the history of Canada”.
He should apologize for misleading Canadians by claiming the actions of the previous Liberal government as being that of his government and, instead, encourage his government to take meaningful action to fight this disease in Canada.