Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague.
The reason Parliament has been put in this position by the Supreme Court is the complete lack of action by the Conservatives in dealing with this issue over a period of 10 years. The Conservatives cut the palliative care initiatives that were in place, took no movement on the issue of palliative care, and refused to deal with the fact that they knew the Supreme Court decision was coming.
The Supreme Court has now stepped into that vacuum and has put this Parliament and, I feel, all Canadians in a very difficult position, because if we do not have a law by June, we will have another legal vacuum in which this door could actually be blown open much wider.
The question is, is the role of this Parliament to do something positive, where we can assure that those who are sick and dying are able to access quality palliative care? We had pushed a motion through the House of Commons last session, and there was no money. The Conservatives and the former prime minister took no steps to put that into action.
We now have Motion No. 46 which talks about the need to establish palliative norms, working with the provinces, working to change the EI provisions so that families can get the support they need to take the pressure off them.
Is my colleague willing to accept a legal vacuum in June if this House does not move? Is he willing to work in a proactive manner with our party in establishing palliative care access so that we can actually present Canadians with more of a balance than simply the law on euthanasia?