Randall Garrison

[Business of Supply, February 8th, 2022]

Madam Speaker, the most surprising thing I have heard this morning has come from the member for Regina—Lewvan, the member for Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek and now the parliamentary secretary, the member for Scarborough—Rouge Park. They have all said the same thing: They believe corporations should pay their fair share of taxes. The New Democrats welcome all of them onto that political space because it has been a long time since we have heard that kind of unity here.

Does the member think we can use the consensus this morning on paying a fair share of taxes to move forward with some kind of supertax on those who have profited from the pandemic?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I must say I was disturbed by the remarks from the member for Saskatoon West.

I just want to cite some figures from yesterday. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID in British Columbia is 324,615, with 4,075 new cases yesterday, 2,616 total deaths, 1,048 hospitalized cases, and 138 in intensive care. The member acts as if COVID is gone and that we could simply give up following public health care advice and give in to the pressure group that represents a tiny minority of truckers.

Does the member really believe we could get out of this COVID pandemic without following public health measures?

[Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply, February 1st, 2022]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his focus on health in his comments on the Speech from the Throne. It is obviously not just the pandemic but other aspects of health that are really of concern to most Canadians. In my province of British Columbia, we have certainly seen 2021 become the year with the most deaths from overdose in history. We are running about 150 a month.

I wonder whether the member would express his support or opposition to the ideas of creating a safe supply of drugs and decriminalizing the personal possession of small amounts of drugs, as a way of attacking this severe opioid crisis that is affecting so many families in my province.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, January 31st, 2022]

With regard to the recommendation from the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights report entitled “The Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure in Canada”, which calls on the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to immediately establish a federal-provincial working group to develop a common prosecutorial directive for dealing with the criminalization of HIV: (a) has the Minister of Justice convened the working group; (b) if not, when will the Minister of Justice convene the working group and who will be invited to participate in the working group; and (c) will the mandate of such a working group include (i) a deadline for reporting back, (ii) clear instructions to consider the impacts of prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure on Indigenous, racialized, and marginalized Canadians?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Return, January 31st, 2022]

With regard to the government's existing commitment to the eradication of HIV/AIDS: (a) what actions are being taken to accelerate the eradication of the virus; (b) how much federal funding has been allocated and spent so far, broken down by year and government department; (c) how many HIV self-test kits have been purchased by the government and how are they being distributed, broken down by province and territory; (d) what is the amount of federal funding being spent on funding anti-retroviral medications and delivery programs, broken down by province and territory; and (e) what specific programs are in place to ensure there is access to HIV testing and treatment for rural, remote, Indigenous, racialized, and marginalized Canadians?

[Questions on the Order Paper, January 31st, 2022]

With regard to federal investment in affordable housing: (a) what number of investments have been made in the riding of Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke since the 2019 election; (b) what is the total amount of this investment; (c) has any funding been in invested in co-op housing programs; and (d) has any funding been allocated to assist in the revitalization of existing co-ops in order to meet the need for additional units and more units that reflect changing family structures in co-ops?

[Diversity and Inclusion, December 16th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, in addition to falling short on funding capacity building for 2SLGBTQI organizations in Canada, the Liberals are also failing to do their part to defend our rights abroad, this in an increasingly dangerous world where in countries like Afghanistan being queer is now literally a death sentence. One simple and effective step that community advocates and New Democrats have been calling for since 2015 would be the appointment of a Canadian special envoy for LGBTQ rights.

Will the government act now in this time of crisis in places like Afghanistan and appoint a Canadian special envoy to help advance and protect LGBTQ rights around the world?

[Criminal Code, December 14th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great care to the speech by the member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia because I am trying to understand the Bloc's position on this bill. She very eloquently laid out the arguments against mandatory minimums and talked about how they in fact do not accomplish what people think they do.

Then she said the timing was awkward. I cannot imagine why there would be bad timing for anything that would take away one of the main measures that results in more indigenous people, Black people and people living poverty ending up in prison, so I am confused. Why is that an objection to the bill?

[Criminal Code, December 13th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, there is very little I can disagree with in the minister's speech, but when this bill was introduced in the previous Parliament as Bill C-22, we raised concerns. Given the scale of the opioid crisis and the scale of the over-incarceration of Black and indigenous Canadians, is there really enough in this bill or are we missing an opportunity?

The way this bill is drafted, which is very narrow, means that some topics we would like to discuss are outside its scope, such as expungement and recommendation 32 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on restoring discretion to judges completely, not just for a limited number of offences, when it comes to mandatory minimums and conditional sentences.

My question for the minister is very specific. Will he consider referring this bill to committee before a vote at second reading so the committee will have the chance to add some of these things, which are beyond the scope of the bill as it is currently written?

[Health, December 13th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, despite years of work by my community and years of promises from the Liberal government, gay men and trans women are still banned from donating blood in Canada. This unscientific ban serves only to promote homophobia and transphobia, and only contributes to blood shortages. Canadian Blood Services has now said it will finally be submitting a recommendation to the Minister of Health this week to lift the ban.

Will the minister commit today to act quickly when he gets this recommendation, and to order lifting the ban immediately?