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Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada

Hon. Arif Virani

  • Member of Parliament
  • Minister of Justice Attorney General of Canada
  • Liberal
  • Parkdale—High Park
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 64%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $120,537.19

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24
Hon. Arif Virani
  • Feb/13/24 10:39:05 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his second contribution this morning, because it is very salient and very pointed. I would urge my Conservative colleagues to actually reconsider their presumed position with respect to this legislation and the need for passing it efficaciously, as soon as possible. As a candid response to his question, so that we are crystal clear, if we do not pass this legislation by March 17, it would be possible in this country for someone whose sole underlying condition is mental illness to avail themselves of MAID. That would occur in the riding of Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, in the province of Alberta, as well as in the province of New Brunswick, which the member for Tobique—Mactaquac represents. The ministers of health for New Brunswick and Alberta have both said to us unequivocally that their health care systems, their MAID assessors and providers, are not ready. I do not want a situation where we have that kind of lay of the land in terms of the criminal law in Canada. We have the power to prevent that from happening by voting in favour of this bill.
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Context: House Hansard - 128 - Nov/16/22
Mr. Arif Virani
  • Nov/16/22 7:23:57 p.m.
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Unsurprisingly, Madam Speaker, we have a strong difference of opinion on this side of the House. One is not making stuff up. I do not do that personally, and the government does not do that as a matter of course. What I am talking about is investments that are being made in energy in this country, and investments that are being made toward sustainable, green and cleaner energy. Those include things like renewables: solar, wind and geothermal energy. Those include even initiatives to export Canadian know-how in nuclear technology around the planet. The member, in his first intervention, talked about the unfortunate situation in which the Germans were burning coal. That is a very unfortunate situation. I would point out to the member that Germany's reliance on coal comes in part from having been overly reliant on Russian natural gas, and secondly from having turned its back on its own nuclear program. That is not something we have done in Ontario. Our phase-out of coal was propelled by our substantive nuclear assets in the province of Ontario. That is what we are hoping to do with the rest of the country in terms of the phase-out of coal in places like Alberta and New Brunswick. That is what we will continue to do with our European allies to meet their energy needs.
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