Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his very wise words.
I imagine that as one of the MPs who wrote the dissenting report, he must be generally pleased. In drafting the bill, the government really took a look at the dissenting report.
I would like to ask a questions about conscience. We all agree that we must protect the freedom of conscience of medical practitioners and nurse practitioners, but this has to do with criminal law. There is a criminal prohibition, and now there is an exemption from the criminal prohibition.
Where in the bill will we include protection for a nurse's or medical practitioner's freedom of conscience? I understand that it is a good thing to have a bill that will cover all Canadians and that there will be consistency across Canada. However, as you know and as you said in your speech, this comes under provincial jurisdiction.
Do you have other examples? As committee chair, I am interested in this because I want to determine whether we can accept an amendment on this issue or whether such protections already exist in the Criminal Code.