Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Denis Fafard, Lura Osborne-Smulders and all the volunteers at the Sunshine Coast Hospice Society for their leadership and vision to increase access for those on the coast who are coping with grief, bereavement and their end of life.
Home care and community care, and mental health and addiction services are top health priorities for Canadians, which is why our government invested an additional $11 billion over 10 years with our provincial and territorial counterparts.
From the great work of the medical assistance in dying panel, we learned that Canadians agree on the need for better access to palliative and end-of-life care, which the World Health Organization defines as meaning the best quality of life for people.
Canadians do not want to die in hospitals, but most do. Nearly half of Canadians receiving palliative care in a hospital die before they can be discharged for hospice support.
I thank all Canadians for making hospice support a health care priority and for our government's leadership in making it happen.