Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that we would be debating the member opposite's bill today. We had a fairly passionate debate just a couple of years back. The debates I really enjoy and become engaged with are when members share stories of their own. When we talked about the assisted dying legislation, with the phenomenal amount of work done both in the House and outside the House through committees, we saw a great effort from Canadians and stakeholders from all regions of the country who provided direct input to the House. That went over and above what we did as parliamentarians. I am sure members can relate. We had constituents who were very passionate on this particular issue.
I was listening to the parliamentary secretary responsible for the legislation providing comment on the government's official position on the issue. I believe that the concerns the member opposite has, in good part, are addressed by the legislation we passed not that long ago.
I recall vividly many of the debates we had when it came to the issue of palliative care. Every member can relate to the issue of palliative care. It is an area this government has talked extensively about in terms of how, through health care, we can ensure that there are more palliative care facilities in all regions of our country. There is so much more we can do on that file to improve the conditions for providing this service to our constituents. It is a service that is provided to our constituents through our provincial administrations.
I used to be the health care critic many years ago in the province of Manitoba. One of the areas that would often surface was the issue of how many individuals we had in hospitals who would have been better off in a home care facility and how many times they were looking for palliative care beds. Many years later, after the time when I was the health care critic, we finally have a Prime Minister and a Minister of Health who have said that we need to see more palliative care units in Canada.
I see that my time has expired. I hope I will have another opportunity to continue my thoughts on this very important issue.