Mr. Speaker, I am somewhat displeased to have to rise to speak to Bill C-41, as I have risen in the House on a number of occasions since 2017, when the Liberals brought forward the initial MAID bill. I want to go back to that initial MAID bill to show why I am raising some concerns with where we are today.
I held a number of town halls throughout my riding of Foothills when the initial MAID legislation was brought forward. In fact, I brought some of my colleagues who were participants in the MAID committee established by the government to study the initial MAID legislation, because I wanted some experts at the town halls in my riding to discuss the possible implications of this legislation and what it actually meant.
I will say that of all the town halls I have held in my riding over my 11-plus years as a member of Parliament, there was never the kind of attendance and engagement from my constituents as there was on the medical assistance and dying proposal. Hundreds of people attended every town hall of the several I held throughout my riding, and I have to admit that it was very split. Constituents were on both sides of this issue. Many were unclear on what it would mean.
When the time came to stand up in the House and vote on that legislation, I voted against it. The main reason I voted against it is that there was no assurance or confidence from what I heard from the various speeches in the House. I even sat in on the MAID committee on a number of occasions just to learn more about what the implications of this legislation would be. In listening to those experts, to the testimony at the MAID committee and certainly to my constituents, I can say that two things really stood out for me.
As I said, there was no confidence that the safeguards being proposed in that legislation would be adhered to. As my colleague before me mentioned, someone would have had to have two doctors sign off before MAID was implemented and anyone requesting MAID would have had to have a mental health assessment. MAID was only supposed to be available for those with a terminal, incurable disease with a foreseeable end. We have certainly seen over the years that that has not been the case. MAID has grown and expanded well beyond that despite the safeguards that were allegedly in place.
The second thing that stood out for me, especially after participating in the MAID committee several years ago, was the real push, especially from members of the Senate at that time, to expand MAID well beyond those with just a terminal illness. There were discussions about having it for people with mental illness, people with disabilities and even minors at that time. I have to admit that I was stunned by how far some members of that committee wanted to push this legislation.
As a decision of conscience, I voted against MAID at the time. I feel that my vote has been justified with how far MAID has expanded in Canada. We are now seeing exponential growth. In fact, we are leading the world on the issue, which I do not think is something we should be proud of. We have seen what I was concerned about, what I was worried about: MAID being expanded to those with mental health issues and those with disabilities.
One story really stands out, which I want to raise in my speech tonight. I remember a call I received from a constituent who was an army veteran, a peacekeeper, with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Calgary and who lived in Okotoks. He called me to say that he was a counsellor for other veterans with PTSD. He certainly suffered from PTSD. Mark Meincke was his name. He said he needed to let me know that he was getting calls from veterans who, when they were making calls to Veterans Affairs Canada and talking to their caseworkers, were being offered MAID.
I found this claim to be quite astonishing. A veteran, someone who has put their life on the line for the service of our country, when they were reaching out to their caseworker at Veterans Affairs Canada, asking for access to mental health services, to counselling or even to check the status of their disability claim, was being offered MAID instead of being offered mental health services. In fact, we found these claims to be quite true. He brought us recordings of phone calls with Veterans Affairs and a number of cases of calls he had had with other veterans, and it was astonishing.
In fact, we asked Mr. Meincke to come to the veterans affairs committee to lay out his story, and the testimony that he gave at that committee was astonishing. I want to give a couple of quotes that Mr. Meincke raised at that time. As I said, he served in Croatia. He witnessed some of the most devastating horrors that one would ever want to see.
He said he was devastated by the phone call from Veterans Affairs, saying, “It's called ‘sanctuary trauma’, where the place you go for help steps on your neck. That's what happened here.” He said the comment from the case worker at Veterans Affairs was that, if they have any suicidal thoughts down the road, MAID was an option, that “it's better than blowing your brains out against the wall.” These were the pieces of advice that our veterans were getting from Veterans Affairs.
Our fear right from the beginning was that MAID would be expanded far beyond what it is or what it was intended to be. This is our concern.
The Liberals are talking out of both sides of their mouth on this piece of legislation. On one hand, they are saying that they are going to delay the decision to offer MAID to people with mental illness as the sole underlying factor, which we completely support. However, at the same time, they are offering advance directives, which requires much further study because the history of the Liberals getting this right is one of failure.
Conservatives are united on splitting this bill. We would fast-track the portion about mental health as quickly as possible to ensure those with mental health concerns are protected, but the underlying factor of advance directives deserves much further scrutiny and debate. Canadians deserve this. I do not want the Liberals to play politics on this. This is a matter of life and death, which has clearly been shown with our veterans, and that is not right. Let the Liberals do the right thing and split the bill so Canadians can have their say.