Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm pretty disappointed, too. We tried to accommodate the government to come back to this issue. Obviously, they were struck by the compelling reasons why this amendment should be adopted, which are in the scope of the BIA, so completely in order. Instead, we get to the end and we're told, “No, we're not going to be considering the amendment.” This is after dozens and dozens of opposition amendments have been turned down by this government. This is after the bill was flagged as being deeply flawed, yet the government just bulldozed through the amendments, refusing any amendment, and bulldozed through each clause.
We end up with a badly flawed bill, badly flawed, one that would be subject to legal challenge, because the government mechanism from the Prime Minister's office on down didn't allow for members to consider appropriate amendments, amendments that would have improved the legislation.
Now we have before us an amendment that is in the scope and that would definitely help people. This committee has the ability to adopt it and, in a very real way, provide some support for parents of a child who has died. There is nothing more tragic than a parent having to deal with the loss of a child. I know friends who have had to deal with it, and it is the most profound sadness and tragedy. We have an ability to provide some supports because of the huge gaping holes in the current legislation, which doesn't allow for bereavement leave when a child dies.
Yes, there are a few cases in which you could get three days of paid leave—as if, in any way, that compensates for the loss of a child or allows a parent to go through the intense grieving, the intense arrangements that have to be made. They're dealing with so many things at once, and the government says that three days is enough. They say that in some cases, with maternity leave benefits, it will apply. Yes, in some cases it will, but in most cases it won't. If it's a woman who has come through maternity leave and her child dies, after four and a half months it does not apply. After five and a half months, six and a half months, one year, two years, three years, four years—there is absolutely no application. For a father, for a non-birth mother, there is no application at all. One might say that if your reaction is profound enough, if you suffer severe depression and you have to take medical leave, it applies, but that's not what we're considering today.
We're not considering the “some exceptions”. We're considering the fact that this is a gaping hole in the legislation, and we have the power now around this table to fix it. We have the power, the ability. We have an amendment that is already here, obviously seriously considered by the government members, because they asked us for a break and they asked us to come back to consider it at the end. I don't think any member of the opposition thought that the consideration at the end would lead to the same casting aside of the amendment that we've seen with all the other opposition amendments. It's a question of how we approach governance. It's a question of how we deal with helping people. Right now this committee has the opportunity to fix that flaw in the legislation and provide for parental leave in the most tragic of circumstances, when a parent loses a child.
I hope government members will vote for this amendment, because it means helping parents at a time that is most tragic and most critical for them. Talking points simply won't address this situation. Saying that, yes, there are a certain number of cases in which maybe somebody can access this type of benefit or that type of benefit does not provide support in most cases. We've heard testimony to that effect. Let's get on with it, and let's adopt this amendment.
It's not as if the opposition has been asking too much. We've put forward dozens of amendments. This is the only amendment that the government would have said yes to—the only one. It's not as if the opposition has weighed in and tried to usurp government power. In fact, it's quite the contrary. I think the opposition amendments, the dozens we've offered, have tried to fix the evident and obvious flaws in this bill that we heard from repeated testimony in front of this committee.
At this point, after ramming through this legislation, after this bulldozer impact, the government has an ability to do one good thing. I think that's all we are asking for: that government members do one good thing today.