Randall Garrison

[Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1, May 6th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, I note that the hon. member for Winnipeg North said the government members feel that they have done everything they could possibly do. I just want to let him know that the people in the tourism sector in my riding, particularly sport and recreational fisheries, just do not believe that is true.

The minister of fisheries has been sitting on a proposal for over a month that would have allowed limited openings for salmon fishing for April, and notice we are not in April anymore, and May, which would have helped the industry recover at least a bit of its business. Now that we are going to miss that limited opening, which would have had limited or no impact salmon stocks, this bill would allow the beginning of phasing out the CERB, cutting the CERB back, phasing out aid to small business owners, and phasing out the wage subsidy. How does this member respond to those people in tourism, and in particular sport and recreational fisheries, that this is everything the government could possibly do?

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, May 5th, 2021]

With regard to the government’s commitment to address the practice of conversion therapy in Canada: (a) what steps are being taken, at the federal level, to prevent this practice from taking place; (b) how, and through which programs, is the government proactively promoting and applying the Canadian Guidelines on Sexual Health Education, as an upstream prevention strategy, for affirming the sexual orientation and gender identities of LGBTQ2 young people before they may be exposed to conversion therapy; (c) what resources will the government be providing to survivors who have experienced psychological trauma and other negative effects from conversion therapy, through interventions such as counselling and peer supports programs; (d) how is the government planning to work with faith leaders, counsellors, educators and other relevant service providers to equip individuals with tools to identify and stop conversion therapy; and (e) what steps is the government taking to address numerous recommendations received from the United Nations to harmonize sexuality education curricula across jurisdictions in Canada?

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Calgary Nose Hill, not just for her passionate speech today, but for her standing up for women the whole time I have served with her in Parliament and also for standing up for my own community on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. I do agree that the member puts her money where her mouth is.

We may disagree on some details about the motion today, but my question for her is whether she would agree with me that reforms going forward have little chance of being taken seriously by either survivors or perpetrators if no one pays the price for the silence in 2018.

[Business of Supply, May 4th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say first that I normally have the greatest respect for the member for Oakville North—Burlington, but I am disappointed with her speech today. She is engaging in the “both of us failed, but who failed first and who failed more” argument when it comes to survivors. I am disappointed because there was an opportunity in 2018 for this government to succeed.

The Minister of National Defence was presented with evidence of sexual misconduct. He was told there was evidence of sexual misconduct, and he refused to look at that evidence. He says that he told the Prime Minister's Office, and the Prime Minister's Office took no action. What we have here is a missed opportunity to restore the trust needed for any future reforms to be successful.

Does the member really believe that no one knew that General Vance had been accused of sexual misconduct in 2018? Does she believe that these procedural arguments excuse the failure to investigate and remove him from his role?

[Canadian Heritage, April 30th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, this month, on the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Chabad Centre in Victoria was defaced with anti-Semitic threats, clearly a hate crime. This week saw the release of a report on anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, which showed another annual spike of 18%, the fifth consecutive annual increase.

Canadians have been without an important and effective tool in fighting hatred since the repeal of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act by the Conservatives, the section that allowed filing complaints about hate incidents with the Human Rights Commission.

When will the government table legislation to restore section 13 so we can move forward in the fight against hatred of all kinds?

[Privilege, April 28th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, on the question of privilege, I would like to make some initial remarks.

It is obviously true that misleading the House is always a serious matter and any instance of misleading the House by a minister, or in this case by the Prime Minister, would clearly affect our ability as members to do our jobs as parliamentarians.

In this case, the answer to the question of what the Prime Minister knew about the allegations against the former chief of the defence staff is critical to the larger issue of the government's failure to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against the former chief of the defence staff and then allowing him to stay in charge of Operation Honour, a program to combat sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, for another three years.

Knowing whether the Prime Minister was aware of the nature of the allegations against General Vance is critical to our power as parliamentarians to hold the government accountable. This case of misleading the House may constitute obstruction, as previous Speakers have found to be the case in other instances of misleading the House.

Obstructing what? The obstruction would be in allowing members to determine who was responsible for the government's failure to act on allegations of sexual misconduct at the highest level in the Canadian Armed Forces.

I urge you, Mr. Speaker, to look carefully at the evidence on this question found in testimony before the defence committee, which on its face appears to contradict the Prime Minister's statements in the House that neither he nor anyone in his office knew that General Vance was accused of sexual misconduct.

Again, whether the Prime Minister misled the House in this question is critical. If what the Prime Minister says is in fact true, it is hard to see how necessary reforms to stamp out misconduct in the military can have any credibility if the Minister of National Defence, who took no effective action on allegations of sexual misconduct at the highest level, remains in place.

Therefore, we need a clear answer of whether the Prime Minister has in fact attempted to mislead the House on this critical question.

[The Budget, April 26th, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, Justice Phillip Sutherland of the Ontario Superior Court found once again that provisions criminalizing sex work are unconstitutional. In Parliament, there was supposed to be a review of the former Bill C-36, but it was never started.

Since the vast majority of sex workers in Canada are women, and since these provisions make it unsafe to work as a sex worker, when will the government move to decriminalize sex work, as has now been twice required by the Supreme Court of Canada?

[The Budget, April 22nd, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I want to return to tourism, because I find the member's speech a little perplexing when he talked about tourism getting ready to welcome people back. He talked about $1 billion as a kind of look-over-here strategy.

Is this member really comfortable with beginning to phase out support to small businesses and tourism and to cut the emergency benefit for workers who depend on it in the tourism industry in the middle of their second lost season starting in July? How does he expect them to survive with those cuts beginning that early?

[Petitions, April 21st, 2021]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to sponsor petition e-3132, and I am even more pleased to present it today as it received more than 9,500 signatures in very short order.

The petitioners call for the full decriminalization of consensual sex work in Canada. They note that criminalizing sex work was found to be a violation of the right to security of person by the Supreme Court in the Bedford decision of 2013. They point out that instead of decriminalizing sex work, Bill C-36 simply found new ways to make sex work illegal, and the result has been to further endanger sex workers.

In the absence of the legislative review of Bill C-36 that was supposed to take place, the petitioners ask that instead of forcing sex workers to go back to court to protect their rights, the House simply repeal Bill C-36.

[The Budget, April 20th, 2021]

Madam Speaker, it may surprise the hon. member for Calgary Centre that I also share his concern about continually running large deficits. I consider myself a Tommy Douglas New Democrat. Tommy ran 17 balanced budgets in his 17 years as premier.

However, this is the situation in which we find ourselves. Canadians need help to get through the pandemic. Businesses need assistance to ensure they survive and can hire back their workers.

We have two choices. We can either deny that assistance, which the Conservatives seem to favour, or we can put in place a tax on those who have made excess profits during the pandemic, the ultra-rich. We could restore corporate income tax rates to the levels from 30 years ago, which the Conservatives and Liberals both cut.

Which is it? Do the Conservatives want to deny Canadians the aid they need to maintain a balanced budget? Are they prepared to join New Democrats in calling for a wealth and excess profits tax?