SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Member of Parliament

Joël Lightbound

  • Member of Parliament
  • Liberal
  • Louis-Hébert
  • Quebec
  • Voting Attendance: 67%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $113,755.58

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24
Mr. Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Lib.)
  • Feb/13/24 10:04:37 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-62 
Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the parliamentary secretary. He is used to this, but I think he can make room for others. I fully agree with my colleague on many things. We need more mental health resources and more access to care. There are several socio-economic factors that can exacerbate mental illness. As far as today's bill is concerned, I would like us to look at things from another angle. Let us look at the genesis of what brought us to include mental illness as grounds to request medical assistance in dying. It came from a Senate amendment that, in my opinion, should not have been accepted by the government. I do not want to make any assumptions, but we are hearing rumours that senators might try to block what could be the will of the House to delay this for three years, as Bill C‑62 seeks to do. What is my colleague's opinion about the role the Senate should play with respect to the House, whose members are duly elected to make decisions?
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Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24
Mr. Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Lib.)
  • Feb/13/24 9:45:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I sincerely want to thank my colleague for her speech. I believe that this is an issue where the debates are particularly instructive for members. We have been dealing with these matters in the House of Commons since 2016 and my position has changed over time, including on advance requests. I think I still need to study the issue, but I understand that this can be useful in some cases. I have met people who could have used this. I have heard some very touching stories, even from people close to me, about people who could use this. However, on the subject of mental illness, my position has also crystallized. Many psychiatrists have told me that this track was not necessarily desirable, that it was far too difficult to gauge the irremediability of a mental illness. My colleague mentioned the consensus in Quebec. Yes, there is one on advance requests. However, as far as mental illness as a sole reason for opening the door to medical assistance in dying goes, the National Assembly of Quebec did vote in Bill 11, in June 2023, as my colleague mentioned. It excludes mental illness because there is in fact no consensus within the medical community. Some members of that community shared their deep concerns with me about opening up MAID for this. I would like my colleague's thoughts on that.
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Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24
Mr. Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Lib.)
Madam Speaker, the member is a colleague I have always enjoyed working with. I remember one of the very first files I was asked to work on as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health back in 2017 was his private member's bill, Bill C-211, on post-traumatic stress disorder, so I know it means a great deal to him, and I appreciate his speech. I voted with our colleague from the other side to completely abandon the idea of opening MAID to people solely affected by mental illness. I have been convinced, through the discussions I have had with psychiatrists from across the country, that we are not ready nor is it desirable to go down that path for various reasons. One of them is that it is hard to say for certain that a mental illness is irremediable, but another aspect that moved me is that, if someone were to have access to that, theoretically, we would need to exhaust all possible treatment options. As we know, in this country, treatment options are sometimes, depending on the regions, hard to access, so I would like to have his comments on that.
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