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House Hansard - 283

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 283 - Feb/15/24
Mr. Luc Thériault (Montcalm, BQ)
  • Feb/15/24 1:53:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, we are not talking about advance directives. That has already been settled. We are talking about advance requests. Second of all, in my speech this morning—because this is a reply to the speech I made this morning—I never said that not enough work had been done. The Bloc Québécois's position is that one year is enough and that we will see after one year, immediately after royal assent, whether we can start to work on the mental illness issue. The member should have sat on the committee from the get-go. He has been an MP from Quebec since 2015. It is a bit strange for him to be so uninformed on the issue of MAID. Since June 2023, the government could have included advance requests in the bill, taking into consideration any recommendation of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. We never said that not enough work had been done. We said that the government was dragging its feet when it comes to committee work. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying was always convened at the last minute. Does the member think that three meetings on an issue such as this were enough?
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Context: House Hansard - 283 - Feb/15/24
Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia
  • Feb/15/24 1:55:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, I should have used the correct term, “advance requests”, instead of “advance directives”. It seems to me that, during question period, the leader of the Bloc Québécois was just asking for an amendment to allow advance requests all of a sudden. Regardless of the government's timeline, I do not think the House is really ready to vote on this. Some members of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying may be. However, as I told him earlier, this is not something as straightforward as the Standing Committee on Finance studying a budget. In that case, the members of a given party recommend that all their fellow party members vote in favour of it because they have studied it and the party trusts them. Everyone wants to make the right decision, so this requires a much more thorough debate. As the member himself said, Quebec did not put medical assistance in dying due to mental disorders in its legislation. The member said it was because Quebec had not studied it at the time. If Quebec is so sure, it can amend its legislation to include it.
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