- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council
- Conservative
- St. Albert—Edmonton
- Alberta
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $119,185.60
- Government Page
- Feb/15/24 12:35:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I served on the special joint committee on MAID, and the overwhelming evidence from experts, including leading psychiatrists, is that there are fundamental political problems with MAID in cases where mental illness is the sole underlying condition. This includes the difficulty in predicting irremediability and in distinguishing a request that is rational from one motivated by suicidal ideation.
What evidence can the member cite to indicate that these fundamental political problems will be resolved in three short years?
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- Feb/13/24 5:01:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is absolutely disgusting that the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader would stick his head in the sand and deny well-documented cases of abuse and non-compliance with respect to so-called safeguards that are supposedly in place and are to be enforced. It is just disgusting, when speaking of some of the most vulnerable persons in Canadian society.
With respect to the member and her speech, she talked about Conservative obstruction. I would remind her that every member of Parliament, from all recognized parties, on the committee, which I served in, said to put a pause on this expansion, so did chairs of psychiatry, and so did the Province of Quebec in the national assembly, when the committee determined that mental illness as a sole underlying condition was not appropriate in the context of MAID.
I will tell members that when I hear evidence that clinicians could get it wrong 50% of the time, in other words like the flip of a coin, I will obstruct that expansion.
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- Feb/12/24 12:40:48 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-7
Madam Speaker, the decision to expand MAID in the case of mental illness was not a decision of the courts. It was a political decision made by the Liberals. That is evidenced by the fact that the government's initial legislative response, Bill C-7, expressly excluded MAID for mental illness in response to the Truchon decision, which was not an appellate decision, as the member said, but a lower court decision that, yes, the government should have appealed.
We have heard from experts the fundamental clinical issues, including the difficulty, if not impossibility, of predicting irremediability as part of the reason why there was a one-year delay. It is part of the reason why now the government is kicking the can down the road with a further three-year delay. What evidence can the member cite that the issue is going to be resolved in three short years?
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- Feb/7/24 6:05:29 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is arrogance, it is recklessness and it is incredible. It is incredible in the sense that they hide behind a Quebec court decision. It is a decision, frankly, they should have appealed but did not. It did not pronounce on the question of MAID and mental illness, and they are now using that as the basis to say we need to move forward with this legislation, even though, when they initially responded, they said they were going to exclude mental illness from the legislation. They are trying to have it both ways.
They got into this mess because David Lametti accepted a radical Senate amendment and it has been a three-year mess ever since.
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- Feb/7/24 6:01:59 p.m.
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- Re: Bill C-7
Madam Speaker, if the member is referring to the Truchon decision, that was not what the Truchon decision provided for.
That was outside the scope of the Truchon decision. Evidenced by that is the fact that when the Liberals responded to Truchon by introducing Bill C-7, mental illness as the sole underlying condition was expressly excluded from the legislation.
This is a political decision brought on by the Liberals.
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- Feb/7/24 5:57:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would submit that 80% of psychiatrists in Ontario saying MAID should not be expanded in the case of mental illness is approaching a professional consensus. The member I would hope would be concerned by a government policy to expand MAID in cases of mental illness significantly impacting vulnerable persons and that he would question the appropriateness of such a policy in the face of opposition from so many experts.
With respect to the Quebec court decision he alluded to, and I believe he is referring to the Truchon decision, there was no pronouncement of the Quebec Superior Court on the question of mental illness. That was not part of the fact pattern in the case. The plaintiffs were not suffering from an underlying mental health disorder. There is no binding precedent forcing the government to enact this legislation. This is a political decision made by these Liberals.
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Mr. Speaker, the message it is sending to persons who are struggling with mental illness is that their life is not important and that we are going to offer them death instead of help and support.
The member raises the issue of veterans who are offered MAID completely inappropriately and, frankly, in contravention of the Criminal Code. The Minister of Veterans Affairs, when he came to the veterans affairs committee, said that it had happened once or twice and that he had undertaken a thorough review. We now know that is not true and that it has happened multiple times. It speaks more broadly to how the government has mishandled MAID in so many different ways.
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford has contributed thoughtfully to the special joint committee.
In answer to his question, I note that during the 2021 election campaign, the Prime Minister claimed that mental health was a priority of the government. He committed to a $4.5-billion mental health transfer, but none of that money has gone out the door. There is no mental health transfer.
Instead of providing support and help, the government has been almost singularly focused on offering death, on offering MAID to persons who are struggling with mental health. It speaks to how misplaced the priorities of the government are. It also speaks to the fact that once again, like so much of what the Prime Minister says, his words are nothing more than empty words.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Montcalm, who serves on the special joint committee and is a very thoughtful member on it.
At the end of the day, the member is arguing that somehow expanding MAID in cases of mental illness could be appropriate, but what he is demonstrating is exactly the opposite. He is highlighting why it would be inappropriate, given the fact that suicidality is a symptom of mental illness and given the fact that 90% of persons who commit suicide suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. I think that all underscores the fact that this is not acceptable.
Expanding MAID for mental illness is not an appropriate treatment. It is not an appropriate solution for mental illness. What the government should be doing, instead of offering the mentally ill death, is offering the mentally ill hope, support and the care they deserve.
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- Oct/20/22 8:01:02 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Yorkton—Melville.
Millions of Canadians live with a mental illness. Tragically, each year more than 4,000 Canadians commit suicide, the vast majority of whom suffer from a mental illness. Concerningly, many more Canadians who suffer from mental illness will have their lives prematurely ended as a result of the Liberal government's ideologically driven, evidence-free expansion of MAID in cases where mental illness is the sole underlying condition.
It was not long ago that the Minister of Justice himself cautioned against expanding MAID in cases where mental illness is the sole underlying condition. In this very place, when Bill C-7 was debated, he said that there are “inherent complexities and risks with MAID on the basis of mental illness as the sole criterion, such as suicidality being a symptom of some mental illnesses”. What has changed? Those inherent complexities and risks remain. What has changed is purely political.
When Bill C-7 went over to the Senate, the Senate adopted a significant amendment to drastically expand MAID in cases of sole mental illness by way of a sunset clause that would come into effect in March 2023. Despite having spoken of “inherent complexities and risks”, the Minister of Justice, incredibly, did a 180° turnaround and accepted the Senate amendment, despite the absence of meaningful study and the absence of meaningful consultation. Then, the Liberal government shut down debate to ram through the bill and ram through this radical expansion of MAID.
By law, in order to qualify for MAID, it must be established that the patient suffers from a “grievous and irremediable” condition that is “incurable”, in which one is in an “irreversible” state of decline. In other words, in order to qualify for MAID, it must be established that one cannot get better.
The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, of which I am a vice-chair, has heard testimony from medical experts, including psychiatrists, and the evidence is that it is not safe to move ahead. That is because it is not possible, or at the very least it is difficult, to predict irremediability.
Even the government's own expert panel concluded as much. On page 9 of the government's own expert panel report, the expert panel said, “it is difficult, if not impossible, for clinicians to make accurate predictions about the future for an individual patient” in cases of sole mental illness. That means persons who are suffering from mental illness who could get better and go on to lead happy and productive lives will have their lives prematurely ended.
As such, I submit that it is reckless and irresponsible for the government to move ahead. What the government should do instead is take the evidence of the expert panel, listen to the experts who have come before the special joint committee and put a pause on this significant and, I would submit, dangerous expansion of MAID. Anything less would be a betrayal of some of the most vulnerable people in this country.
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