Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for the work he has done on palliative care. I was honoured to support the motion he presented to the House last year. It was an honour to work across Parliament, across partisan lines, to facilitate the report “Not to be Forgotten”, which includes many recommendations. I am proud to say that a number of those recommendations have been completely or partially implemented, but we have a long way to go.
I am concerned as well about the potential legal vacuum that could exist if we do nothing. However, I have pointed out in my comments that there are at least three key amendments that the legislation needs if it is in any way going to resemble what I think are adequate safeguards for vulnerable people. Those include that vulnerable Canadians need better protection with a system of judicial oversight. It is fine to say that there are two medical doctors, two independent witnesses, and yet no way of actually asserting that those are in fact independent.
Another one is health care protection for conscience of health care workers. It would be totally inappropriate for an institution that was set up to improve end-of-life care and to walk with patients through that end-of-life natural process to demand that they go diametrically opposite to the principles under which they were founded and now have to participate in physician hastened death.