Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I just need to add one preface here, as you did not give me a chance to state the reasons for my challenge to the chair.
I will point out that section 241 of the Criminal Code is in fact amended several times by Bill C-7. That was my basis for suggesting that additional amendments to section 241 should be in order.
On the question of whether or not this is a necessary amendment, I know the narrow legal arguments saying that nurses or other health professionals or social workers are covered under the strict letter of the law. However, it is also true that we've had many accusations made about specific cases and about the role of health care professionals in discussing medical assistance in dying with patients.
In response to Mr. Moore, I would say that I am very cautious about judging evidence presented before the committee that deals with specific cases when we only hear one of the parties to that case. If in fact there are serious allegations, as have been made several times before the committee, of inappropriate actions by health care professionals, those should have been raised with medical professional bodies or in extreme cases with the police, and dealt with in a way that allowed a chance to have both sides of the story considered by an impartial body.
Again, I believe that there is a risk of constraining the conversations that health care professionals, including nurses and psychiatrists, can have with their patients in the way that the bill is worded now, and that this amendment is simply a further clarification of the ability of professionals to discuss fully the options with their patients.