Madam Speaker, three times pro-doctor-assisted suicide groups testified, but the committee did not hear from any anti-euthanasia advocacy groups.
Now the government is telling us that the justice committee, during its hearings, will allow amendments. The Liberals say that the committee can make amendments and better define things like conscience rights, or what happens when a doctor refuses to assist a person to commit suicide. The committee may look at the term “reasonable foreseeable death” or the issue of advance consent. However, I have no faith in the Liberal-dominated committee that will hear Bill C-14.
Today the Liberals are in a hurry to pass the bill and send it to committee. I have served and chaired many committees, I have seen how witness lists have been tightly controlled. I do not believe the views of average Canadians will be heard at this committee. I do not believe the religious community in Canada will even be given the chance to testify. I think we will see a Liberal-dominated committee that will turn down all amendments that might change the bill.
We already saw that at the previous special joint committee. That is why the official opposition had to table a dissenting report to the conclusions of the committee. We listed the problems that must be addressed. I am thankful for some of those issues being addressed in Bill C-14.
There is a void in Canada, and elsewhere for that matter, on behalf of people who do not ever deal with death and dying on a day-to-day basis. Many are in absolute fear of dying. It is the great unknown. There is a chance there will be unbearable pain and suffering, many people believe. We do not know.
Palliative care experts tell us that it is possible to find balance in the human body. The human body is very good at shutting itself down, and palliative care is all about assisting each individual in that process compassionately.
My daughter and wife both serve as nurses. They have been at the bedsides of those who are dying and have compassionately cared for them, making certain that pain is addressed, or that there is very little pain in some cases.
The provinces will decide certain questions on the bill. Health services are, as we know, a provincial jurisdiction. The government knows this and it is trying to wash its hands of some of that issue. In fact, the Liberal government knows there are going to be many problems within the bill when we move forward to the next level and try to get unanimity among all the provinces and territories.
The government has already said that it will continue to study the issues of doctor-assisted suicide. Some have said that we will continue to study the issue around mature minors. Will they someday be able to receive assisted suicide, or people with mental illness? The government is going to study that as well as advance requests.
We know we live in a time where there is a slippery slope. Here we are debating Bill C-14. Most of us think those are the parameters today, but what will they be tomorrow? If it is a right today for some people to have doctor-assisted suicide, why is it not then a right for someone else? How long do we think it will before the courts take that one on and change what we may very well want to implement here today? I think it is a concern for people on both sides of the House. It is not good enough, so we need to do some of this work before we talk about the many other things.
There are a couple of areas of concern with the bill that need to be addressed at committee. Canadians need to be certain that physician-assisted dying is limited to competent adult persons 18 years of age and older. We need to ensure safeguards for vulnerable persons and confirm their capacity to make decisions about their life or being killed. We need conscience protections for physicians, and this is the big one.
We need conscience protections for physicians, nurses and other medical practitioners who oppose physician-assisted dying. Once Bill C-14 is passed into law, without conscience protections, euthanasia and assisted suicide will enter the standard of care.
I should have spoken more quickly, because I have about five more pages. It is a heartfelt issue. I believe in the sanctity of life.