Bill C-7 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying)

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to, among other things,
(a) repeal the provision that requires a person’s natural death be reasonably foreseeable in order for them to be eligible for medical assistance in dying;
(b) specify that persons whose sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness are not eligible for medical assistance in dying;
(c) create two sets of safeguards that must be respected before medical assistance in dying may be provided to a person, the application of which depends on whether the person’s natural death is reasonably foreseeable;
(d) permit medical assistance in dying to be provided to a person who has been found eligible to receive it, whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable and who has lost the capacity to consent before medical assistance in dying is provided, on the basis of a prior agreement they entered into with the medical practitioner or nurse practitioner; and
(e) permit medical assistance in dying to be provided to a person who has lost the capacity to consent to it as a result of the self-administration of a substance that was provided to them under the provisions governing medical assistance in dying in order to cause their own death.

Criminal Code

[David Lametti, Liberal, Minister of Justice]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying).

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

[Jonathon Azzopardi, Director, International Affairs, Laval Tool & Mold Ltd., and past Chairman, Canadian Association of Mold Makers]

Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you.

My name is Jonathon Azzopardi, past chair of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers. I am the current director of international affairs for the association and president of Laval, a mold and part manufacturer in Windsor, Ontario.

Our association is 100 members. There are 216 mold manufacturers in Canada, as well as 14,000 skilled workers, over 230 associate members and over 1,400 companies just in southwestern Ontario alone in manufacturing.

I have to start out by saying that I don't admire the position you're in. A committee that is asked to push through ratification that's already negotiated, but that's trying to put the structure together to be able to create a net to be able to capture those opportunities, does not have an easy task, but it is necessary. We're here to support the ratification of Bill C-4, or CUSMA.

To be a manufacturer in Canada is not easy, but it is a privilege. It comes not without its many challenges. I won't take my time to mention all those challenges, but I will say that if you make things or grow things in Canada, exporting is critical.

I will take the 10 minutes—or the five minutes—to show you the ways in which this agreement can help us and create leverage or a springboard. I believe it is important that we start with a timetable. In 2015 Donald Trump, at the time the president-elect, announced that he was going to renegotiate NAFTA. I have to admit that when you fast-forward to 2016, when the president-elect became President, it sent a shock wave through our industry. That shock wave, through its uncertainty, real or unreal, caused a lot of disheartenment among workers and companies. At the time, our industry was under a great amount of pressure because it wasn't a fair trading relationship. Made in America was causing enough problems, not to mention the fact that 85% of our exports going to the United States were already under pressure from low-cost countries like China that do what we do at a fraction of our costs.

We have the blessing that this agreement was negotiated quickly. I believe our U.S. trading partner made sure that the rules were in their favour, but dragging out ratification can only hurt us more. We only lose more opportunities every day. Why is ratification important? It will dispel the uncertainty. You have to understand that we've been in this uncertainty since 2015, which is nearly five years, losing opportunities every day. You also have to understand that because of our cycles and our agreements with our clients, we won't see all of the bad news until five years after ratification.

The second reason I want to talk to you today concerns future investments. Future investments in Canada, because of this agreement, will fall very heavily on tiers one, two and three. It's very important that you understand that the further down the supply chain in the auto sector, the less likely you have to be in the United States. By moving this agreement forward, all assembly factories—over $20 billion in investments in the United States since 2016—will now become our new clients. That's if this ratification happens quickly.

The next point is that I represent the mold-making industry, which is typically a tier-two industry. This is very important. We must mirror our trading policies with our largest trading partner. For example, in December of 2019, a 25% tariff was imposed on molds coming into the United States from China. This is an example of where, if Canada is not adopting mirroring policies, we will become a dumping zone for Chinese products. It's important that, in stage two, upon ratification, Canada adopt mirroring policies for U.S. steel, aluminum and molds. Without doing this, without adopting these policies, you will begin to erode our manufacturing sector from the inside out.

The last point I'd like to make concerns our vulnerability regarding CPTPP. Without the new CUSMA agreement, I agree with David, this agreement is a disaster waiting to happen in Canada. CPTPP has no apparent value for Canadian manufacturers without CUSMA. It will not help us but actually hurt us, because we'll become a dumping ground for companies wanting to gain access to the U.S. If Canada does not adopt strong RVC policies, it will be an opportunity missed. We'll actually lose ground.

Canada needs to ratify CUSMA as soon as possible, and create protective measures to protect against this dumping by mirroring U.S. protective measures within our own country so that we can take advantage of this agreement fully. One way to protect this is to expand the list of products and strengthen the methods of calculating RVC. Mirror trading policies with the U.S. and get this agreement in place as soon as possible.

I'd be happy to answer all your questions and also to play an active role in helping you move this forward.

Thank you.