Randall Garrison

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, December 4th, 2024]

With regard to federal departments and agencies and the public services which they provide to Canadians, broken down by department or agency and fiscal year since January 1, 2006: which government-owned or rented buildings have been closed due to federal budget reductions or reallocations, and what services or programs were impacted by these closures?

[Privilege, December 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank all the members who spoke for their kind words. I said what I said in my speech, and I really mean it. I think that the great majority of us come here wanting to work together to do good for Canadians. I think we sometimes lose sight of that in the chamber, and we need to remind ourselves regularly and to rise above the forces of partisanship to try to make this a better country and a better world.

[Privilege, December 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this is my last speech, so I did that on purpose.

This includes dental care, an indigenous-led housing program and anti-scab legislation, but I am also proud to be part of a caucus that recognizes we truly live in a climate emergency and there is so much more that has to be done.

I came to the House believing, as most of us do, that we can work together despite our differences to make both Canada and the world a better place. I have worked with MPs from all parties on common initiatives and much of that work was done at the committee level. During my time at the defence committee, over five years, I worked with Liberal chair Stephen Fuhr and the Conservative spokesperson, the member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, and together we were able to visit Canadian Forces trainers working in Ukraine, members stationed with NATO in Latvia and Canadian peacekeepers in Mali. As well, we managed to send the House more than 20 unanimous reports on how to improve Canada's defences.

I only wish committee work like this would get half the public attention that the theatre that is question period gets from both the media and the public.

Unfortunately, we now live in the midst of a rising tide of hate and violence, and it is more important now than ever that each of us continues to speak out against hatred. I remain appalled by the constant attack on transgender Canadians, especially transgender kids. I am disturbed by the ongoing wave of incidents of anti-Semitism nationally and even in my own riding. Solidarity matters when fighting against hate, whether it is directed toward my community or any other community in this country. As once a new Canadian myself, I will always speak out against attempts to blame newcomers for all our ills. None of this hate, none of this attack on immigrants, none of this attack on transgender people is part of the Canada that most of us have always been so proud to be part of.

While remaining a firm advocate for my riding, the queer community and greater equity in Canadian society, my time in Parliament has always been devoted to finding common ground to advance all Canadians, especially the most marginalized among us. I hope those of us members of Parliament who still believe we can find the common ground necessary to move forward will stand against those who wish to make MPs nothing more than cheerleaders for opposing teams seeking power. There is always a choice for each of us as a member of Parliament, and I am hopeful MPs from all parties will make the choice to rise above these current challenges.

I thank everyone. It has been great to be a colleague of all members and an honour to serve my constituents and all Canadians.

[Privilege, December 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, this morning I handed a letter to your office informing you of my resignation, effective in January.

After more than four years waiting, I now have a family doctor, and it is time to listen to his advice about putting my health first. This means these are likely my final remarks as the member of Parliament for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke. I want to thank the Speaker and the House in advance for granting me some latitude today and, by doing so, perhaps saving me from having to write a book.

Let me start by thanking all those who have supported me over what has been nearly 14 years as a member of Parliament.

First and foremost, I want to thank the constituents of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke for giving me the privilege of representing them here for four terms. It has been and continues to be an honour to work with the diverse communities that make up this riding, including six municipalities, four first nations and the large contingent of military families. In particular, I am thankful for the support I have received from the South Asian community, the Jewish community and, of course, the 2SLGBTQI+ community, both in my riding and from across the country.

Special thanks also go to my campaign teams in six elections and all the volunteers and donors and the many trade unionists who always came out to support me.

My biggest thanks, of course, goes to my husband, Teddy Pardede. When I first told him I was considering running for office, he said, “Okay, honey, you go do that,” but he has steadfastly stood by me as a public figure despite it turning out to require a little more than that from him and to be a little more complicated all round. He has supported me as a public figure for 20 of the 25 years we have been together.

Members know I am a crier, and I promised I would not cry completely through the speech, but I am going to get a few opportunities.

I have to confess that sometimes I am still a little astonished to actually be standing in the House. How did a queer kid from a farm in Nebraska, from a working-class family riven by domestic violence and child abuse, both shrouded in silence, become a member of Parliament? It was never part of my plan. I will always be grateful to Canada for providing me refuge more than 50 years ago, when it was still illegal for men to have sex with men in the United States, and for giving me so many opportunities to build a life here.

Who is to blame for me being a New Democrat MP? Well, it started with Tommy Douglas, who signed me up as a party member when he was my MP in Nanaimo more than 45 years ago; I had to sign the card before I got dessert. That resulted in my working with and for the party for over a decade, including a stint on Ed Broadbent's staff here in in Ottawa nearly 40 years ago.

After that time, I spent over a decade involved in human rights and international solidarity work. When I arrived back in Canada after a year of human rights work abroad and took up teaching again, I fell for an invitation from the new NDP leader, Jack Layton, to have lunch to discuss my human rights work. We did discuss human rights, but at the end of that lunch Jack said, “I'll bet you think there should be gay members of Parliament,” and of course, I agreed. Then he said, “Well, how do you think they get there if people like you will not run?” So I agreed, despite repeatedly having said no before and despite the many, myself included, who thought the path for a gay New Democrat running in the second-largest military riding in the country was more than a little uphill.

When I came to the House, it was after two losses, but more importantly, it was after more than 20 years teaching criminal justice, after serving as a municipal police board member and city councillor, and after working as an international human rights researcher in Indonesia, East Timor and Afghanistan, where I was often in the field alongside Canadian peacekeepers. I have tried to be true to who I am and to bring the expertise I acquired along the way to my work here in the House. As an out and proud member of the queer community, I hope I have demonstrated that diversity is one of our strengths as a nation and that more diverse Parliaments do indeed make better laws.

From 2011, I have been privileged to serve as the NDP spokesperson for queer rights. Fourteen years as the critic on one topic may be some kind of record, I am not sure, and we are still the only party to have such a position. I am proud to have successfully led initiatives in the House to add transgender rights to the Canadian Human Rights Act and the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code, to ban conversion therapy, to bring an end to the gay blood ban and to provide a path to safety in Canada for queer and trans refugees whose lives are at imminent risk. However, I want to stress that any progress on queer rights that has been made here has only been possible because of years of struggle at the grassroots level across the country by the queer community and the always unwavering support of my caucus, our leader and, I have to say, key MPs in other parties.

In the House, I have also served as the NDP public safety, defence and justice critic over the years. Again, I have been able to lead initiatives in the House that have led to the elimination of criminal records for the personal possession of drugs in this country and to expand access to community-based bail supervision, both to help make communities more safe and also more just.

Some things are still left undone. My initiative on coercive and controlling behaviour in intimate partner violence, now in the form of the member for Victoria's private member's bill, Bill C-332, remains stuck in the other place, despite having passed here unanimously last summer. I remain disappointed that my repeated attempts have failed to convince both Conservative and Liberal governments to remove self-harm from the military code of conduct as a disciplinary offence, an initiative that would signal an important change in attitude toward mental health in the military.

I have been privileged to be able to bring the whole of who I am to my work here in the House, despite increasing levels of harassment and threats for doing so. I am disappointed that we failed to pass my private member's bill to add the queer community to federal employment equity legislation so we can have a workforce that fairly represents the whole of the country we are. As a gay man who lost many friends in the first round of the AIDS epidemic, I remain perplexed by the government's failure to take the measures necessary to eliminate new cases of HIV in this country by 2030. All it would take is decriminalizing HIV non-disclosure and modest annual expenditures on community-based testing and treatment programs.

As an MP, I have also worked to provide strong service to my riding. I successfully secured better protections for southern resident killer whales, got federal funding for the initial cleanup of Esquimalt Harbour and delivered support for the local shipbuilding industry, as well as providing strong advocacy for individual constituents in their dealings with the federal government.

Let me stop to say how important the support is that I have received from my staff here in Ottawa and in my constituency office, most of whom, breaking the rule, are here in the gallery right now. They have been loyal and long-serving. Again, maybe I have set some records here; I have one staff person who has been with me from day one, and we refer to the other person in the office as the junior staff person because they have only been here 12 years. The same is true in my constituency office. None of what I have been able to accomplish would have been possible without their support.

I am especially proud to be part of this, my fourth, NDP caucus, which is particularly skilled and hard-working and which, under the leadership of Jagmeet Singh, has secured many important victories for ordinary working Canadians—

[HIV/AIDS, December 2nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday marked World AIDS Day. Each year, we remember the people who have been lost and we celebrate the strength and resiliency of people living with HIV/AIDS, the people who have supported and cared for them over the past 40 years, and the doctors and researchers who have made significant advances in treatment possible so that ending HIV is now in sight.

Canada has adopted the goal set by UNAIDS of eliminating new HIV cases by 2030, but we are falling far short on the actions necessary to make this a reality. Instead, new cases in this country are skyrocketing; they are up 35% overall in the past year and up 88% in Edmonton.

This year's UNAIDS report tells us what we must do. We must work to destigmatize HIV by decriminalizing non-disclosure. We must also make access to testing and treatment universal and accessible for people at risk by increasing funding to community-based, frontline service organizations that can reach people where they are. Two of those proposals are on the Minister of Health's desk right now. There is still time to meet the 2030 goal if the government listens to HIV organizations across the country and acts now.

[Questions on the Order Paper, November 8th, 2024]

With regard to government contracts with healthcare agencies to serve inmate populations in all federal penitentiaries at Correctional Service Canada, broken down by fiscal year, since 2017-18: (a) what is the total number of contracts signed; (b) what are the details of all contracts signed, including the (i) agency contracted, (ii) value of the contract, (iii) number of healthcare practitioners provided, (iv) duration of the contract; and (c) what is the total amount of extra costs incurred as a result of relying on contracted services instead of employing healthcare practitioners directly?

[Health, October 4th, 2024]

Madam Speaker, Canada made a commitment to eliminate new cases of HIV by 2030. There is still time to stop the spread of HIV, which is now hitting indigenous women and other marginalized Canadians hardest. Community-based HIV organizations have laid out the necessary path in two proposals; it would cost less than $175 million.

Will the government provide the necessary funding to community-based HIV/AIDS organizations to ensure that all Canadians are able to access HIV testing and then get connected to care, or, despite its promises, is the government okay to continue to see the number of new HIV cases in Canada rise instead of falling?

[Committees of the House, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, as usual, I enjoy debate back and forth where the Liberals and Conservatives argue about who is going to provide the most inadequate programs. The question that is actually before us today is not whether you support the existing program by the Liberals. The question that the New Democrats have put on the table is whether you support the original intention of this program, which was to create a benefit that would lift people with disabilities out of poverty.

Are you prepared to commit today that you would support lifting all people with disabilities out of poverty in this country or not?

[Anti-Semitism, October 1st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark one year since the October 7 attacks on Israel. This was the single deadliest day Jewish people have faced since the Holocaust, and it forever changed their world.

On October 7, Hamas terrorists took 251 civilians hostage while killing over 1,200 people, including eight Canadians: Judih Weinstein, Vivian Silver, Ben Mizrachi, Netta Epstein, Shir Georgy, Adi Vital-Kaploun, Alexandre Look, and Tiferet Lapidot. May their memories be a blessing.

In the year since, Jewish Canadians have faced an alarming rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes, with vandalism, bomb threats and open calls for violence against Jews. Jewish Canadians wearing a Magen David or a yarmulke in public or placing a mezuzah outside their homes face harassment and threats to their safety, all with the added stress of ongoing deadly rocket attacks targeting friends and family in Israel.

Jewish Canadians are calling for action. We know all too well the dire consequences of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism. It is time to work together, to demand the return of all hostages and to chart a path toward a just and lasting negotiated peace for all.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, September 16th, 2024]

With regard to the electoral district of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, between the fiscal year 2015-16 and the current year: (a) what are all the federal infrastructure investments, including direct transfers to municipalities, regional district associations or First Nations, national parks, highways, etc., broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) total expenditure, (iii) project; and (b) what funding is allocated to highways, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) total expenditure, (iii) project?