SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 112 - Oct/18/22

Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)

Oct/18/22 2:14:33 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with the pandemic came a spike in calls to frontline agencies for help with domestic violence. Like the pandemic, that increase has not faded away. In the previous Parliament and again this June, the justice committee unanimously recommended that the government bring forward legislation to make coercive and controlling behaviour in intimate partner relationships a criminal offence as one additional tool to help fight intimate partner violence. Unfortunately, when the government tabled its recent response, there was no sense of urgency. In Canada, we continue to see a woman killed by an intimate partner, on average, every six days, and coercive and controlling behaviour is almost always a precursor to this physical violence. In the face of government inaction, New Democrats will be seeking other ways to make sure victims and survivors get access to the help they need, with both improved access to support and making coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence in my private member's bill, Bill C-202. I ask all members of the House to continue to support concrete action to address the ongoing scourge of intimate partner violence in Canada.

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Context: House Hansard - 112 - Oct/18/22

Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)

Oct/18/22 5:16:30 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-31

Madam Speaker, this debate always strays away from the real need for dental care in this country. When people say programs already exist, it is simply not true. There is no province that provides coverage for every family, every individual, every person with a disability who earns less than $90,000 a year. It simply does not exist in this country. I can tell the House about a family that came into my office for help on another federal program and literally burst into tears when they found out they could take their kids to the dentist. We have heard the Conservatives, in particular their leader, talk like Santa to working people, but when it comes to trying to delay this program so that cheques do not come out before the end of the year, their delay tactics look a lot more like Scrooge.

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Context: House Hansard - 112 - Oct/18/22

Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)

Oct/18/22 7:15:15 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-31

Madam Speaker, I just heard the question from the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan about whether dental care was a priority for provincial governments, so I guess my question for the member for Vancouver Granville is whether he has found the same thing that I found in my riding: that dental care is definitely a priority for seniors and definitely a priority for families, and that any money we spend on this program, despite those partial provincial programs that do exist, would save provincial governments money. For those people who are asking for dental care, we are beginning with families with kids under 12 and then are extending it to people with disabilities, and eventually seniors and everybody who earns less than $90,000. That is where the demand is coming from. It is from constituents in my riding. I want to know if the member for Vancouver Granville shares that experience.

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Context: House Hansard - 112 - Oct/18/22

Mr. Randall Garrison (Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, NDP)

Oct/18/22 7:48:28 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-31

Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member for Regina—Lewvan. He said that this was at the top of no one's priority list and that no one really wanted a dental care program. His evidence is that he talked to lots of provincial politicians and ministers. Has he actually talked to constituents in his riding with kids or to working families? The Conservatives say that they do not want people to make hard choices. Well, there are working families who are making hard choices every day due to not being able to provide dental care. Has he talked to people with disabilities and seniors about the need for dental care? I think what he will find is that the $10-billion program is a down payment on good health for Canadians.

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