Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague's office happens to be across the hallway from mine. I have great respect for her and her efforts in trying to promote Canadian values among all Canadians, but there a couple of things I wish to raise.
The first is the disability tax credit. The government talks up a great storm but at the same time takes money away from those vulnerable in our society. I would hope that she would be one of those many backbench MPs in the Liberal Party who are opposed to the changes to that tax credit.
Most important, she did mention Sharon Carstairs and her work regarding the concerns of palliative care. As my colleague would know, I have had a bill in the House of Commons now for over three years which was just reintroduced and which was chosen in the lottery. We will get a chance to debate what she so eloquently talked about.
The bill basically says that anyone who has to be institutionalized as per a licensed physician could stay in the confines of their own home if there is a caregiver. If that caregiver needs to take leave from work in order to provide that care, that person should be able to collect employment insurance similar to the maternity leave benefits.
There is something for at the beginning of a person's life called maternity or paternity leave, which is a great program. It could be improved but it is still a good program. However there is nothing for at the end of a person's life, such as eternity leave. This is something that we hope to address. I could not help but notice that part of this issue appeared in the throne speech. Senator Carstairs is promoting it across the country as well.
Does the member for York West support those initiatives? Would she strive in all ways possible to make my bill a votable item so that we could have a proper debate for all Canadians to listen to?