OTTAWA — Longtime British Columbia NDP Randall Garrison says he will not seek re-election in the next federal vote.
The representative for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke on Vancouver Island announced his decision in a brief post on Twitter.
Garrison was first elected in 2011 and had been serving as the federal NDP's critic in Parliament for justice and national defence.
Party leader Jagmeet Singh says in a social-media post that Garrison has been a "trailblazer" for visibility and inclusion for the LGBTQ community.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner also thanked Garrison on social media for his contributions to Parliament, calling him a friend who will be missed and sending well wishes to him and his husband.
Garrison's private bill to recognize gender identity as a prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act passed in the House in 2013, though it never came to a final vote in the Senate, several years before the Liberal government legislated the same thing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2023.
The Canadian Press
