Madam Speaker, I consider it an honour to speak for a third time on Bill C-7 as the bill would dramatically expand access to assisted death in our country.
I rise again to represent the thousands of voices across the country who feel that the bill puts them in crosshairs. I am referring to vulnerable Canadians living with disabilities and disabling conditions who believe they have been targeted. They have told us that this legislation singles them out by providing them with a special path to assisted death. They want us in this place to know their lives matter. This is the last opportunity for members of the House to legislate Bill C-7 to ensure their best interests are considered.
I want to use my time today to reiterate what has been a common theme throughout my interventions on Bill C-7. The Liberals are moving to impose sweeping consequential legislation despite what they have been clearly told by Parliament and Canadians. Yes, they have even ignored their own legislation.
The government should not have moved to implement the bill before the parliamentary review of Bill C-14, which was slated to take place before the end of June next year. It should have done that first. We do not yet have a clear enough picture of the impact a Canada-wide MAID regime has had on our country. Five years is not remotely enough time to take stock of trends, abuse and the impact of MAID on charter-protected conscience rights.
I remember the words of the former member for Winnipeg Centre, Robert-Falcon Ouellette, during debate on Bill C-14. In his view, the Liberals should have delayed the implementation of the Canada-wide MAID regime for at least five to 10 years until it could be adequately determined what the impact of assisted death would be in all communities across our vast and diverse country. Mr. Ouellette spoke against adding fuel to the suicide crisis that had taken such a heartbreaking toll on reserves.
Tyler White, CEO of Siksika Health Services, said recently that Bill C-7 ran the risk of undoing the work that indigenous elders had done to curb the frequency of suicides among indigenous youth. What message does Bill C-7 send these young people? If indigenous advocates believe that Bill C-14 was a step in the wrong direction, why is the government taking things even further with Bill C-7? What is the purpose of rushing this?
I also remember the elements of the Bill C-14 debate pertaining to instances of MAID abuse in other parts of the world. This is key. The Belgian model, which Bill C-14 was modelled after, is known for its abuse. In Belgium and the Netherlands, MAID laws, once limited to mentally competent, terminally ill adults, now include adults and children with mental deficiencies, severely disabled individuals and even those with treatable psychiatric conditions, such as anorexia and depression. Between 2012 and 2017, the Netherlands alone saw a 600% increase in euthanasia, which was sought to address psychiatric conditions.
When was the government planning to take a hard look at Canada's MAID regime and how we could prevent this kind of abuse in the future? The Minister of Justice says that it is in the works and part of the plan. Why was it not done first? This is the cart before the horse. It is the tail wagging the dog.
By ignoring a five-year review, the government has also cast aside the concerns of physicians. We cannot ignore the monumental importance medical professionals place on their Hippocratic oath, such is true of Dr. Ramona Coelho, a champion of conscience rights in her field. She told former MP David Anderson at the end of the Parliament, “Doctors know the importance of conscience rights to protect themselves and their patients...people like me who are being pressured to leave family medicine. I know palliative care doctors in Ontario who have stopped practising. I know nurses in institutions who are feeling bullied…shift their focus, or retire early ...The pressure is there, and we are looking for relief.”
It saddens me that the government has yet to establish conscience protections for medical practitioners who do not wish to violate their conscience while at a patient's beside. This bill is asking doctors to go far beyond what Bill C-14 even asked them to do. In Dr. Coelho's words, “it is my conscience that pushes me to go the extra mile, and I think patient care will suffer if doctors are not allowed to live with integrity and follow their conscience.”
It is because of this risk of abuse on many fronts that many of us on this side of the House walked away from the Bill C-14 debate with an unpleasant feeling in our gut, one that suggested that the implementation of the MAID regime had started Canada down a very slippery slope to a culture of death on demand. We are at Bill C-7 today.
However, there was an ever-present light at the end of the tunnel with Bill C-14. The five-year review was important to members of the House and indeed to all Canadians. It is shameful we find ourselves ramming through this legislation before this review is even started.
On that note, I realize that the Liberals are frustrated that my colleagues and I have been so diligent in vocalizing the outpouring of concern from disabled Canadians, concerned medical professionals and those whose personal beliefs conflict with the bill. That is our responsibility.
The Liberals desperately want to speed up the passage of this life and death legislation. They want to meet the deadline imposed by the Quebec Superior Court, a deadline they could have met comfortably if the House had sat in May and June and the Prime Minister had not prorogued Parliament in August.
In a way, this is beside the point. The December 18 deadline is arbitrary, as was the deadline for Bill C-14. As legislators, our mandate is to pass the best legislation possible for all Canadians. I underscore the words “all Canadians”.
The bill has barely been studied as the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights only held four meetings of hearings. Many witnesses and briefs were denied a voice because of this. Of course, the Liberals certainly could have, should have and still could appeal the Quebec Superior Court decision. We could have struck a balance in good faith of what Canadians actually wanted when it came to end-of-life decisions.
As I said in a previous debate, four years since the passage of Bill C-14 has allowed Canadians to further process the idea of assisted death. Almost 80% of Canadians believe it should be easier to make end-of-life decisions for themselves. That number is seven points higher than it was four years ago upon the passage of Bill C-14.
At the same time, Canadians are unwavering in their support of strong safeguards for the most vulnerable in our society as well as conscience protections for medical professionals. They are unwavering. According to an Angus Reid Institute poll released last month, the same majority of Canadians who desire empowerment in their end-of-life decisions want Parliament to weigh the risks of MAID for those living with mental health issues such as depression.
Sixty-nine per cent of Canadians fear depressed individuals could see MAID as a means to escape dealing with the underlying cause of their condition. Of those surveyed, 65% want Parliament and the courts to consider MAID's impact on the elderly and those with disabilities. They fear death-on-demand could encourage these Canadians to seek it as a means of ending their perceived burden on others. This perceived feeling is being encouraged and more research needs to be done.
Sixty-two per cent of Canadians want Parliament and the courts to examine the potential impact of MAID on our health care system. There is a danger that increased reliance on assisted death will lead policy-makers to begin neglecting long-term and palliative care. I am being gracious in saying “begin”, because, in my view, we can see this discouraging trend unfolding already.
Seventy per cent of Canadians continue to live without access to palliative care, while the government has failed to invest the $3 billion it promised to help in closing that gap. Clearly there is a discrepancy.
Canadians are equally as outspoken when it comes to conscience protection for doctors or those whose faith bars their participation in MAID. Fifty-seven per cent agree that nursing homes and hospices with conscientious objections should be able to deny MAID to those who request it. The Canadian Medical Association has indicated that 23,000 doctors are available to provide this service, which is more than enough across Canada. We need to protect our conscience protections.
Canadians want to see reasonable safeguards maintained in Bill C-7. They want to see Parliament legislate with their interests in mind, their interests, not those of the courts. They want to see the House continue to give credence to the views of medical professionals and those with disabilities.
Regrettably, judging by what we have seen through debate, Bill C-7 is another example of the government allowing the courts to legislate for Canadians. This bill is not reflective of what Canadians hold dear: Care and compassion for all, regardless of age, disabilities or religious beliefs.
Public health and economic safeguards have been the highest priority of the House throughout the pandemic. That is why so many in this place and across the country find Bill C-7's attack on end-of-life safeguards so painfully ironic and troubling. It is for this reason I cannot and will not support the bill.