Harold Albrecht

[Criminal Code, May 3rd, 2016]

Madam Speaker, on at least three occasions now we have heard from the other side the confusion created around the use of discontinuing medical treatment and physician-assisted suicide. These are not at all the same. We all agree, and have agreed for many years, that it is not incumbent on any patient to continue life-extending, life-prolonging treatment.

Earlier today a colleague of the member commented that there were $3 billion in this budget for home care and palliative care. That comment was incorrect. Would my colleague correct that?

Finally, would my colleague agree to an amendment in the legislation that would require a palliative care consultation for patients who requested medical assistance in dying so these patients would be provided with the full range of options of treatments and supports available to them? Therefore, people requesting physician-assisted suicide would need to have a palliative care consultation prior to proceeding with their request.

[Petitions, May 3rd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of presenting two separate petitions today, one from the people in my riding and the surrounding area, and another from British Columbia; Sherbrooke, Quebec; St. Catharines, and other areas in the Niagara Peninsula. All of these petitioners call on the government to draft legislation that will include adequate safeguards for vulnerable Canadians, especially those with mental health challenges, clear conscience protection for health care workers and institutions, and the protection of children under age 18 from physician-assisted suicide.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her thoughtful remarks, although I may disagree with her on some of her conclusions.

Would she agree that there needs to be better protection within the legislation to ensure that should their conscience not allow medical or health care practitioners who are providing end-of-life care to go down that path, that they should have the freedom not to participate?

Second, in terms of the potential future of this regime, in whatever form it ends up taking, is she concerned at all about the impact on the potential lack of trust between patient and doctor? What would this do to the patient-doctor relationship in terms of trust, especially for those who are elderly, who may be facing end-of-life decisions?

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for pointing out that a few times tonight reference has been made to “when this bill gets to committee”. It in fact is in committee right now, and the committee has started its work. I understand it has had four hours of study already, and it will continue that tomorrow.

My colleague referred to broad consultation a number of times. He referenced the expert panel. We have the expert panel report. Unfortunately, the Liberal government chose not to accept any recommendations from the expert panel. Therefore, we are somewhat limited with respect to broad consultation.

Also, in terms of broad consultation, a number of groups requested to appear before the joint committee that were not allowed to be present simply because of the time pressure. Therefore, to use the term “broad consultation” is a bit of a stretch. However, I certainly hope that in the next week of study at the justice committee there will be broader consultation.

My colleague referred to the fact that this should apply equally across Canada. I wonder if he would agree that if we can apply the access to physician-assisted dying across Canada, we could also at least ensure conscience right protection for physicians and other medical health practitioners, as well as institutions that offer health care, be applied equally across Canada.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, the member referred to page 7, numbers (5) and (6), which talk about independent witnesses, and the independence of medical and nurse practitioners, ensuring that there is no business relationship, and there is no potential financial benefit from having someone have their death hastened.

Certainly, I agree with these principles that are here, but my concern is that, while they are here, a person could say that, yes, they are independent and all of those things, but there is no method of verifying whether or not that is in fact the case.

I wonder if my colleague would support the idea of a prior review, either a tribunal or judicial review, or some panel which would oversee and verify the facts that are stated.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Madam Speaker, my colleague has outlined many of the concerns that many of us in the House have. Throughout debate today we have heard government members assure us that conscience protection is included in Bill C-14. I do not share that optimism because I do not see it here, other than in the preamble, and it is actually along with the intention to expand physician-assisted dying to minors and people with psychological issues. That is a pretty weak commitment.

My bigger concern is that the bill is totally silent on protection for health institutions. We know that many hospices in Canada have been started with the express purpose of improving the quality of life for those approaching end of life and many of them are supported by very generous donors. If we are to insist that those institutions now need to participate in physician-assisted dying, I have concerns that we will end up losing a lot of health care facilities in our country. I am wondering if my colleague would share any comments on her views on protection for institutions.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Madam Speaker, the member made some very insightful remarks. I certainly agree with him on many of the points he made in terms of how Bill C-14 needs to be improved, the panel oversight, some protections for conscience rights, and those kinds of things.

My question relates to the legal profession. I am not a lawyer, so I will ask my colleague who is a lawyer. He commented that in the Rodriguez decision in 1993, the Supreme Court decided that the social good was of higher importance than relieving the suffering of one individual. That ruling was affirmed again in the Latimer case in 1997.

I wonder if my colleague would comment on what he thinks changed in terms of the law that created a situation where the Supreme Court would reverse itself on a fundamental issue when from my perspective, I do not see that any laws have changed.

If he has time, I would love the hon. member to give the Vanier quote.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I really hesitated getting up to ask this question, but my colleague, and I respect him and his work, inferred some similarity between the loss of a pet and the loss of a loved one, a human. I have lost lots of pets over the last 60 years, and yes, I have shed some tears, and I have had this kind of experience. However, to infer that there is even a 1% similarity between losing a pet and losing a family member I think misses the point.

I watched my mother and dad approach death. I watched a brother, who lay unconscious for a month in hospital on life support approach death and die. Five years ago today, my wife suffered an intracranial hemorrhage and two days later passed away. However, not in one of those situations, not in one of them, would I have wanted to end their lives one day earlier.

We need to realize what suffering can teach us as we walk alongside those who are suffering and enter into their suffering. That is what it means to be human. My concern is that if we lose the drive to walk with those who are suffering and lose the commitment to actually do something about palliative care and provide good care for those who are suffering, we are really missing the boat.

I would like my colleague to comment on the lack in the budget of actual hard commitment to really get on with palliative care.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, there is a couple of things I would like to clarify. The member and his colleague who spoke earlier said, pretty unequivocally, that no doctor would be required to participate in this regime. I do not see any protection in Bill C-14 that would assure doctors they would not be required to participate, other than a very vague comment in the preamble talking about that possibility. It certainly does not put ironclad protection in the bill.

The other issue I would like to raise with all my colleagues on the other side is palliative care. We continue to hear their commitment to palliative care. I applaud that. We need better palliative care. I have been working on that years. We can talk about it, but I do not see any evidence in the budget of the $3 billion that was promised to be immediately invested. I am very concerned. We need to get working on this. I want to see an actual firm commitment within the budget so we have something we can take to Canadians that says help is on the way.

Barring that, to offer physician-assisted death without—

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2016]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his work on the committee and also his continuing work on seniors care.

Just to follow up with my colleague across the way, in terms of the expert panel, there was a point where I had the report of the expert panel. The unfortunate part is that the Liberals refused any recommendations from the panel. They said it could give them the report but they did not want any recommendations. That was really a sad day, seeing the expert work that was done.

My question goes to the point of definition. Currently, Bill C-14 is called medical assistance in dying. I pointed out on a number of occasions that, many times when we see social engineering projects, they are preceded by verbal engineering, and I think this is another way that this is happening.

I would like my colleague to comment on the difference between physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia, because we know that the outcomes of those two different methods are vastly different. In fact there is a tenfold increase in people dying by voluntary euthanasia over physician-assisted suicide because of some of the ambivalence that occurs.