44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 15, 2023 02:00PM
- Feb/15/23 4:05:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the third report of the Standing Committee on Science and Research, entitled “Small Modular Nuclear Reactors”.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
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- Feb/15/23 4:06:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the second report of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, entitled “Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada: Choices for Canadians”.
Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.
I will take this opportunity to thank the members of our committee. Ten members from four parties and five senators worked for nine months to deliver this report. I also want to thank our clerks and our analysts for their excellent work during the last nine months. It is a challenging task. They showed exceptional patience and skill.
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- Feb/15/23 4:07:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Conservative members of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying to table, in both official languages, our dissenting report.
Conservatives completely reject the committee's endorsement of the Liberal government's new arbitrary deadline to expand MAID in cases of mental illness in one year. The evidence from experts, including leading psychiatrists, is clear. This radical expansion cannot be implemented safely, and there is no evidence to indicate that it will be any different a year from now.
We are also disappointed that the committee failed to undertake a meaningful study on the effectiveness and enforcement of existing safeguards, this at a time when there are multiple alarming reports of abuse, non-compliance and Canadians falling through the cracks under the Liberals' MAID regime.
Finally, we reject the committee's irresponsible recommendation to expand MAID for mature minors, especially having regard for significant knowledge gaps and a complete lack of consultation with impacted groups, including young Canadians.
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- Feb/15/23 4:08:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to present three petitions.
The first petition, e-petition 3974, has been signed by Canadians across the country and highlights the fact that even though cannabis is legal in Canada, far too many people remain penalized for historic cannabis convictions. These historic convictions disproportionately impact people from marginalized communities and have negative consequences on their ability to work, find housing and travel outside the country.
This petition recognizes that cannabis-related pardon programs fail to remedy these concerns and, thus, calls upon the government to follow the lead of jurisdictions like New York and immediately table legislation that would provide automatic expungement for all Canadians living with non-violent cannabis convictions.
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- Feb/15/23 4:09:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the second petition, e-petition 3775, has the support of 1,345 Canadians and is an important reminder that there is an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and illegal war unfolding in Yemen.
This petition calls on the government to immediately cancel all active and pending arms deals with Saudi Arabia, prevent any transfers of Canadian-made arms, demand the Saudi-led coalition to end its air strikes and military offensives, apply Magnitsky sanctions to Saudi leaders, significantly increase humanitarian aid to Yemen and expand the group of five sponsorship exemptions to Yemeni refugees.
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- Feb/15/23 4:10:30 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the last petition, e-petition 3777, initiated by Henry Evans-Tenbrinke from Hamilton, is in relation to the Australia, United Kingdom and United States military pact and the willingness of the U.S. to sell nuclear submarines and related military technologies to the Australians. These weapons sales would be in violation of the UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
This petition requests the Government of Canada to not only refuse any participation in the AUKUS pact, but also strongly condemn it as a breach of the UN nuclear non-proliferation treaty and a dangerous escalation of military tensions.
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- Feb/15/23 4:11:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am presenting e-petition 4183, which was started by a constituent of mine, John Fulton. It is signed by over 2,161 Canadians.
The petitioners are calling upon the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and the Minister of Health to recommend to the Governor in Council to immediately add COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to schedule 1 of the Patent Act, thereby permitting export under Canada's access to medicines regime for humanitarian reasons.
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Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition in which the petitioners oppose Bill C-21 and are asking for it to be repealed because it would do nothing to prevent gun smuggling or crimes involving firearms.
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- Feb/15/23 4:12:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.
In the first petition, the petitioners note that more than four million Canadians, including one and a half million children, live in homes where the families report food insecurity. They point out that it is important to remember that the health and development of children requires that they have access to healthy food, particularly in a school setting. Canada is one of the few members of the OECD without a national nutritional school food program in place.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada, in collaboration with the provinces, territories, municipalities and stakeholders, to develop a national school nutritious food program to ensure that all children in Canada have access to healthy food.
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- Feb/15/23 4:13:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the second petition, the petitioners point out that in Canada more than 600,000 social housing units that were created between 1970 and 1994 were provided through long-term agreements with social housing providers. They point out that these agreements are essential to provide affordable housing options to people, particularly tenants, with a maximum of 30% of their income dedicated to rent.
The petitioners point out that the federal government today is still refusing to renew those agreements, many of which have expired. They are calling on the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and other stakeholders, to renew the funding of long-term social housing operating agreements in order to preserve rent subsidies and provide funds for the necessary renovations for this critically important housing stock.
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- Feb/15/23 4:13:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am tabling a petition on behalf of my constituents calling on the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to update the immigration system to pave the way for efficient processes that address Canada's ongoing needs. The petitioners are raising the fact that, since 2015, the immigration backlog has increased to 2.1 million applications.
I will draw attention to specific points the petitioners make in this petition. On refugee travel document applications, where the department has a goal of beating the standard of 20 days 90% of the time, the IRCC meets that standard only 15% of the time. The certificate for identity applications has a goal of beating the service standard of 20 days 90% of the time. Sadly, only 15% are processed on time.
This is causing stress. It is a lack of dignity to the applicants by the department. This department has received double the funding since 2015. We have doubled the FT and full-time equivalent staff, and despite that, the backlog is still 2.1 million, so petitioners are calling on the minister to fix the problem he has created.
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- Feb/15/23 4:15:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to table today.
In the first petition, petitioners recognize that it has been 77 years since the first use of nuclear weapons, which demonstrated their awesome power, yet we remain today under constant threat of warfare that could result in devastation from which the world would never recover. They also recognize that the Government of Canada has published statements saying that it is committed to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.
They also note that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been signed by 86 countries, and ratified by 66, but not by Canada, and they recognize that, as a non-nuclear state, Canada is in the best position to comply with the articles of the TPNW and to guide its allies in other nations towards a world free from nuclear weapons.
Therefore, the petitioners are calling upon the Government of Canada to sign and commit to ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to urge allies and other nations to follow suit.
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- Feb/15/23 4:16:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in the second petition, petitioners recognize that disability financial support payments in Canada are currently far below the official poverty line. They also recognize that 1.5 million disabled Canadians currently suffer every single day in a state of legislated poverty, and they recognize that the government continues to allow the wealthy, well-connected and multinational corporations to horde billions in offshore accounts, or forgo taxes and fair prices for our country's resources.
Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to end the current practice of legislated poverty of Canadians living with disabilities and establish a federal disability benefit of $2,200 a month.
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- Feb/15/23 4:17:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, in both official languages, a document entitled “2023 Report on Federal Tax Expenditures”.
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- Feb/15/23 4:17:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.
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- Feb/15/23 4:17:56 p.m.
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Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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- Feb/15/23 4:18:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers be allowed to stand.
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- Feb/15/23 4:18:07 p.m.
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Is that agreed?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
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Mr. Speaker, as always, I want to thank the constituents of Niagara West for electing me to represent them in Parliament and be their voice in this place on the key issues of our country. What is more important than the bill we are discussing today, Bill C-39, respecting medical assistance in dying? We all know how sensitive and complex a topic this is. We as parliamentarians, with this bill, are dealing with the issue of literal life and death, which is a deeply personal decision, and that is as complex as it gets.
On both sides of the House, the focus and priority of all of us is to ensure that safeguards are always in place for the most vulnerable people in our society, particularly for those with mental health challenges. I believe that we are all trying to get this legislation right. Lives are at stake, and again, we need to get this right. We also have to keep in mind that we have to be respectful and accepting of the different perspectives on this issue.
Many folks from my community in Niagara West are people of faith, and they are struggling with this concept of doctor-assisted suicide. This issue is of particular importance to the thousands of my constituents who took the time to write letters, send emails and make phone calls to my office to express their views. This is an issue that is exceptionally difficult to accept for many Canadians across the country, including those in my riding of Niagara West.
The planned legal death of someone who is terminally ill is a very delicate matter to begin with, but to open up the door for more people to qualify on mental health grounds, to me and to many of my constituents, is even more troubling. These folks want to ensure that we, as the representatives in this place, safeguard human life in the aftermath of the Carter v. Canada Supreme Court decision.
There is also strong concern that people with mental health issues may be persuaded into ending their lives while they are in a state of personal suffering. That is wrong, and I am sure that we all want to prevent that kind of thing from ever happening to anyone. I am also concerned that there may be horrible stereotypes reinforced, such as that that a life with a mental health challenge is not a life worth living, or that living with it is a fate worse than death. This cannot happen.
I know it has already been discussed, but I would like to provide some information and context for my constituents who are not yet aware of how we got to this point and why we are currently discussing medical assistance in dying in Parliament.
On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that grievously suffering patients had the right to ask for help in ending their lives. This was the Carter v. Canada decision. In other words, the Supreme Court made medical assistance in dying a legal right for Canadians under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Supreme Court declared that paragraph 241(1)(b) and section 14 of the Criminal Code, which prohibited assistance in terminating life, infringed upon the charter rights of life, liberty and security of the person for individuals who wanted to access an assisted death. The Supreme Court decision was suspended for a year to give the government time to enact legislation that reconciled the Charter of Rights of individuals and patients. As a result, the government introduced Bill C-14 on April 14, 2016, and it received royal assent on June 17, 2016. Medical assistance in dying has been legal ever since.
An important fact to remember, once again, is that the legalization of assisted death began with the Supreme Court decision in Carter v. Canada. The last time I spoke to this issue, I reiterated my concern, and the concern expressed by thousands of my constituents, that there simply are not sufficient safeguards for those who are most vulnerable in relation to accessing medical assistance in dying. I feel the same today.
I believe my esteemed colleague from Calgary Nose Hill is absolutely correct. This week, she spoke to the same bill and said that she finds it reprehensible and an abdication of responsibility of every parliamentarian of every political stripe to allow medically assisted dying to be extended to Canadians with mental health challenges, given the abject, miserable state of mental health supports in Canada. She spoke about the difficulties in accessing mental health supports across the country, and I believe she is correct. Mental health services are not readily available. They are also very expensive. The availability of quality mental health services must be there across the country before we even start to consider this debate on legislation that allows folks experiencing mental health issues to seek medical assistance in dying.
Let us not forget something very important here: One of the symptoms of a mental health issue is the unfortunate thought of wishing to die. How can we not get our mental health care system in order first before we contemplate allowing folks to commit medically assisted suicide because of a potentially treatable mental health challenge? I cannot fathom a life being lost because of a treatable mental health issue that went untreated because of a lack of quality and available supports.
I am sure my hon. colleagues have also heard the story of an Ontario man who requested MAID, not because he wanted to die, but because he thought it was a preferable alternative to being homeless. Housing is another major issue the government has not adequately addressed. We should not be a country where folks who are homeless should live in such despair that they feel they have no option than to request medical assistance in dying.
In another story, a disabled Ontario woman applied for MAID after seven years of applying for affordable housing in Toronto with no luck. I think we are all in agreement that these types of cases should never happen.
I am also very concerned about the mental health of all Canadians, given the difficult times we are in. Inflation is at a generational high. The cost of groceries is up 11%. Half of Canadians are cutting back on groceries, and 20% of Canadians are skipping meals. The carbon tax is being tripled, adding unnecessary costs to families’ gas, grocery and home heating bills.
The average rent in Canada’s 10 largest cities is more than $2,200 a month, up more than $1,000 a month over the last eight years. Average monthly mortgage costs have more than doubled, now costing Canadians over $3,000 a month. We are seeing a record number of Canadians visiting food banks.
All of this takes a tremendous toll on the mental health of families, seniors and especially those suffering with mental illness and other vulnerable groups. Life was not exactly easy for many people before the pandemic, and it has certainly gotten worse with the inflationary crisis we are in. The important thing to remember here is that investments into mental health services must be made a top priority, because as we all agree, mental health is health.
Let us turn back to Bill C-39. I believe there should be strong safeguards to ensure those most vulnerable never fall through the cracks and end up on a list of people to be medically put to death before they have exhausted all avenues to live a meaningful life.
Let us be clear about something, medical assistance in dying is a tremendously difficult issue to debate. It is a highly emotional topic, and there are many factors and personal convictions that come into play. We agree on many things, but we also disagree strongly on others.
On this issue, specifically, we must respect and listen to one another’s views as we chart the course of our future and the future realities of those who are most vulnerable. We can either signal to them that we care by expanding mental health supports and investing in quality services, or we can unfortunately go down a dark path of allowing those who are struggling with treatable mental health challenges the opportunity to end their lives.
I support investing in our people by providing quality and easily accessible mental health treatments. However, this is not what the government’s Bill C-39 does. It seeks to delay, for one year, the implementation of provisions that would expand the availability of assisted dying to those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness. That is wrong.
Unfortunately, the Liberal government has brought forward this delay to their MAID expansion because they failed to heed the concerns of our Conservative members, mental health advocates and Canadians when they passed legislation in 2021. I personally do not believe that we should ever give up on those experiencing mental illness. According to the most recent polls, a majority of Canadians would agree with me.
A majority of Canadians oppose the government’s plan to offer assisted dying to patients with incurable mental illness. The Angus Reid poll shows 51% of respondents said they oppose the expansion of medical assistance in dying to Canadians whose sole condition is mental illness. In other words, 51% of Canadians believe that we should be focused on offering help and treatment rather that assisted death.
Having said all this, at this point we will be supporting this delay to prevent the immediate expansion of assisted death to those suffering with mental illness. In the near future, we will bring forward alternative proposals. My hope is that the we all uphold the original objective of the initial legislation, which was “to affirm the inherent and equal value of every person’s life and to avoid encouraging negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill or disabled.” That we must protect “vulnerable persons...from being induced, in moments of weakness, to end their lives.”
This issue is very important to me and to many of my constituents, and I look forward to working with all my colleagues, from all parties, to get this right.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for a balanced presentation on this issue.
I think his concern about the availability of mental health services is entirely fair. However, I do take issue with one thing the member said, which is that he held open the possibility of medical assistance in dying being an option for someone with a treatable mental illness. That is not the legislation. The legislation limits the right to medical assistance in dying to those who have an irremediable condition. Therefore, the fear that someone with a treatable condition would be able to avail themselves of medical assistance in dying is one that will not materialize.
As for the availability of mental health supports, the member would be well aware of the successful negotiation between the Government of Canada and the provinces for a substantial infusion of cash. This will absolutely increase the level of service available to Canadians with respect to mental health services.
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