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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 280

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 12, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)
  • Feb/12/24 12:46:47 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-39 
Madam Speaker, it is almost one year to the day that the governing party proposed Bill C-39. I am glad we are once again talking about rushing through legislation to avoid extending medical assistance in dying for mental health. The parliamentary secretary asked a really important question. He asked in his speech if we are doing enough on these social issues. The answer is very clearly no because the government is not rushing through crucial legislation to address the housing crisis. It is not rushing through legislation to address legislated poverty for people with disabilities, and it is pretending its commitment to a $4.5-billion Canada mental health transfer never happened. Why is this the case?
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Luc Thériault (Montcalm, BQ)
  • Feb/12/24 1:20:09 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it would have been good if my colleague could have sat with us on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. I think she is confusing two things. Just because a person requests MAID does not mean that they will be eligible to receive it, and all of the experts, whether they are in favour of MAID or not, have said that a suicidal state is reversible. I am not sure what she was talking about, but it is important not to engage in fearmongering. No one who has just been taken into care will be given that option because, first of all, it is not an option that is offered to people. People have to make a request. I would invite my colleague to read the panel's recommendations on that.
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Ms. Michelle Ferreri
  • Feb/12/24 1:21:00 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I guess my response to that member is to ask why medical assistance in dying should be offered to somebody who has a mental illness, when what they need is help. It does not make any sense. As I said, I cannot reconcile those two things. If we do not know with certainty whether somebody is going to get better, why would we put that into legislation to even make it an option?
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Luc Thériault
  • Feb/12/24 1:49:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have already answered my colleague's question. What I told him and I will say it again is that the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying sat for too little time. I would have liked to be able to question the people who wrote that letter to get them to support my position, which is that decisions cannot be forever. He is telling me that the NDP, which is a progressive party, believes that mental disorders are totally related to our ability to meet demand, when no matter how good the treatment a person receives is, they may still experience a mental disorder that will be irremediable. Instead of putting it off indefinitely, why not work on it over the next year? That is the Bloc Québécois's position. It is a matter of hearing from those people to see what their arguments are based on, knowing that this cannot be postponed indefinitely.
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Pierre Paul-Hus (Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, CPC)
  • Feb/12/24 1:50:36 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, medical assistance in dying is a very thorny issue. Each of us in the House has our own opinion on it. Yesterday, in the Les coulisses du pouvoir interview on Radio-Canada, he said that the nasty Conservatives on the religious right were against advance requests and were keeping the House from moving forward. I checked this morning with our House leader; that is not true at all. We have never objected to anything in that respect. Can the member apologize for his misleading statements to Radio-Canada?
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Luc Thériault
  • Feb/12/24 1:51:34 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, since 2015, every time we have addressed medical assistance in dying in the House, it has been blocked by the Conservatives. I understand that my colleague is not happy about it. He tells me that everyone has a right to their own opinion. The Conservatives' opinion is very much based on the views of religious right-wing voters.
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay (Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, BQ)
  • Feb/12/24 1:52:12 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has previously worked on this file; he has also served in the National Assembly, but if I am not mistaken, it was not at the time of the debate on medical assistance in dying. He will correct me if I am wrong. Could he explain any significant differences that may exist in terms of the sensitivity with which the two parliaments, the two states, have dealt with this issue?
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Hon. Arif Virani (Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Lib.)
  • Feb/12/24 2:27:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, from day one, we have been treating medical assistance in dying with care. We are trying to balance the autonomy and dignity of the individual with protecting vulnerable populations. We have adopted a prudent approach from day one. We owe it to Canadians and Quebeckers to address these issues in a thoughtful way and to proceed with caution. We will do that.
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