Stephen Ellis

[Criminal Code, February 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, first and foremost, I will not join the NDP. That certainly is something I would not entertain.

What we do know is that Canadians are suffering significantly in this country. How we go about solving that problem is certainly an issue that would be a matter of debate for many years here in the chamber.

We know that Canadians around the country are looking at the Conservatives and saying they need a change in the government. They know that the Conservatives have ideas that are going to allow Canadians to make their own money, to spend their own money in the way Canadians think is desirable and to be a part of the greatest country in the world. That is how Conservatives would do that.

[Criminal Code, February 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, I thank you for that astute advice. I really appreciate it.

This article said, “because mental health should be a priority.” That is the article I am quoting, which has the Prime Minister's name. It is important that Canadians understand that.

“But despite the sense of urgency in [the Prime Minister's] remarks last year,” and I have changed that word to satisfy the chamber, because we all know who the Liberal Prime Minister is, “no money has yet materialized for this new Canada mental health transfer”.

I am going to say that again, just to make sure that everybody has heard it. No money has yet materialized, “including an initial $875 million that was supposed to have been spent or budgeted by now, according to the Liberal party’s 2021 election platform.”

“The Liberal platform document included a line-by-line costing of all its election promises, and it outlined a promise to spend $250 million in 2021-22 on the new mental health transfer, and then $625 million in the current 2022-23 fiscal year, with additional amounts over the next three years adding up to $4.5 billion total.”

“None of the promised spending over the last two fiscal years has yet been allocated or spent.”

To me, that is important. Again, I will quote from the Liberal Prime Minister, “because mental health should be a priority.”

Where is the priority of mental health, and why is it not materializing?

We know that my hon. colleague, who spoke just before me, talked incessantly about a three-digit suicide prevention hotline, which was harder than giving birth to a baby elephant to make it happen. It is absolutely shocking to think about how the government wants to talk about being helpful to Canadians and how it has their proverbial backs, etc. I just do not see that. That is absolutely atrocious.

This article goes on to talk about the national director of public policy for the Canadian Mental Health Association, and they pointed out that the “April budget contained no money earmarked for this new transfer.”

“Let’s be clear, for it not to be in Budget 2022, at least with a timeline of ramp up to the $4.5 (billion), you know, it was really concerning to us.” That was stated by the Canadian Mental Health Association.

After eight years, why does the government continue to fail Canadians? That would be a great question to know the answer to.

We also heard in the health committee last week that counsellors and psychotherapists are required to charge GST on their services. We know that, sadly, many Canadians do not have private coverage for those services, but to add insult to injury, to pour salt in a wound, what we are now requiring is for Canadians to pay GST on those services. How does that make any sense?

It goes on to say that, “psychiatrists across the country [are] 'incredibly concerned' about patients needing better access to care, including addiction services”. These are addiction services that the government would tout are a whole other kettle of fish and are quite shocking.

There is still controversy around providing medical assistance in dying for people with mental disorders among providers. Obviously, one of the other things that I think is very important is the fact that the government has not transferred any, zero, nada, zilch, of the $4.5 billion. Think of my riding of Cumberland—Colchester and the difficulties that rural Canadians are suffering.

Because of their geography, rural Canadians are struggling not only to get access to mental health, but also to put gas in their cars to get them to the actual appointments. The punishing carbon tax that the government wants to put on everything in this country is really affecting their ability to have the money to pay the extra GST required for counselling and psychotherapy.

We all know that if people are struggling to put food on the table, and if Canadians have to choose between eating and looking after their mental health, they are likely going to choose eating. This is a sad commentary on life in Canada where it appears that everything is broken. The sad commentary will continue in this country because of the punishing taxes the government wants to continue levying on Canadians, which is making life unaffordable.

We know the crisis in mental health is going to continue. It would appear that approximately one in three Canadians is struggling with their mental health. We know that the government has put out its own projections to say, if we read the report on departmental results, it would expect that 22% of Canadians would not be able to access mental health care, and the actual result is 25% of Canadians cannot access mental health care. This is unacceptable. Zero percent of Canadians should have this issue, and we have a government that thinks 25% is acceptable.

[Criminal Code, February 13th, 2023]

Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House. Of course, speaking on issues as weighty as medical assistance in dying, these are perhaps some of the most difficult things we will speak of in the House. I note that this is going to be an issue I am sure we will face in the chamber over the next several months, and perhaps again, as the bill comes to pass.

Today we are talking about mental disorder as the sole underlying medical condition for Canadians to access medical assistance in dying. The bill is presenting legislation for a one-year delay. Why is the government asking for a one-year delay? Certainly, this is about the concerns Canadians have across this great country with respect to the presentation of the government.

Perhaps, it will be similar to Bill C-21, when the issues Canadians had were brought forward by the Conservatives, and the Liberals had to change position on that bill. We know that there are mental health advocates who have significant concerns about the bill, such as the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry, which brought forth issues related to mental disorder as the sole underlying medical condition.

One of the things that is germane is to help people understand what it is we were studying at the joint committee on medical assistance in dying. We were talking about mature minors. We were talking about advance requests. We were talking about Canadians with disabilities. We were talking about the state of palliative care in Canada, and we were talking about Canadians who suffer with a mental disorder. When we looked at these particular topics, there were many contentious issues, and it became heated and personal at times, which was perhaps as it should be.

For comparison, I think we need to understand that, when we look at Canada and its perhaps 38 million people, we know that in the last year, 10,000 people died from medical assistance in dying. In California, which has a very similar population and perhaps similar rules, there were only 400 deaths due to medical assistance in dying.

People might ask why we would not compare with the Netherlands. It has been at this for a while, and maybe it is a better representation. They have a population of 17 million people and about 5,000 people died to medical assistance in dying.

They already have statutes that include depression, dementia and all the other things I have mentioned previously, so if we wanted to compare that directly to Canada, including depression and perhaps advance requests, they would have about 10,000 deaths at the current time. We know that in Canada, without mental disorder and without advance requests, there are already 10,000 people who have died between 2020 and 2021 due to MAID. That is a year over year increase of 32%.

That, to me, is concerning, and I think that anybody in this chamber would also know that on the world stage, sadly, in my mind anyway, Canada has been a world leader in medical assistance in dying, and many countries around the world have brought forward concerns of the slippery slope that Canada is now going down.

One of the things the government has promised to Canadians, which they have not delivered upon, is the Canada mental health transfer, and I am sure that my hon. colleague just before me spoke about this, so I am sad to have missed it. That was a $4.5 billion transfer that was promised by the government in its platform in the last election. I read a new article about this, and it says, “in August 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this brand new transfer was needed”—

[Health Care, February 8th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the aisle we know very clearly that, after eight years of the Liberal government, everything is broken, and sadly that includes the health care system. Having worked in that system for over a quarter of a century myself, it is very clear that my colleagues who continue to work there, as physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, etc., experience unbelievable levels of burnout. It is over 50%. When we start to think about those folks and how we are going to continue to deliver care, what we feel is a sense of sadness. We feel a sense of crisis.

Dr. Katharine Smart, who is the former president of the Canadian Medical Association, states that we have a system on the brink of collapse. I guess what I would say is that this agreement, which in my mind was delivered by a Prime Minister who is out of touch with the realities as a fait accompli, is with the premiers of provinces, and when we watched those premiers walk very quickly by the microphones of the reporters yesterday, it is very easy to tell that they are not happy with this deal in any way, shape or form. What we know is that the Prime Minister has a habit of not wanting to discuss things with the premiers, or with anybody else who disagrees with his opinion. It would appear that he is out of touch once again with what is happening in the health care system.

For everyone out there in Canada who is listening, we know very clearly that the Liberal government has had almost eight years to improve the health care system. This Hail Mary pass it wants to throw is to a system that is crumbling in front of everybody's eyes. This is not a simple position of a Conservative opposition. It is very easy to see, as any Canadian does when they try to access a family doctor. As we know, over five million Canadians do not have access to a family physician. Many folks in the House do not have access to a family physician, and I know that Canadians out there watching today do not have access to a family physician.

That leaves us, sadly, with Canadians clamouring to receive care in settings such as emergency rooms. After eight years of the Liberal government, and it is almost hard to say that this is happening in Canada, people are dying in emergency rooms. People have died in an emergency room in my riding, and to have these things happening in a system that I cherish, both as a physician and as a Canadian, is unconscionable. For the Liberal government to have neglected health care over the past eight years is, once again, unconscionable.

What have the Liberals done with the money Canadians pay out of their pockets? What have they done with it? They have more than doubled the debt. They have added more to the debt than any other government in the history of Canada, and then when the premiers come to them and say there is a health care crisis out there, in case we did not know, the Liberals say that the cupboard is bare.

They talk about $190-some billion, but when we really look at the mathematics of it all, it is again a bit of smoke and mirrors, because realistically what that is related to is an increase of $4.6 billion, on average, year over year. Is $4.6 billion a lot of money? I think it is a lot of money. That being said, it is nowhere near what the premiers, in their wisdom, realize they need to operate a safe, effective, efficient and modern health care system, which Canadians want to see, Canadian health care workers want to be a part of and we, as Canadians, want to be proud of. Once again, the Liberal government has let Canadians down.

We know that at the current time the wait time for referrals from one's family physician for specialist treatment is the longest it has been in 30 years. It is over six months. It is unconscionable. There are over 1.228 million people waiting for procedures in this country. The backlog is enormous.

We also know very clearly that the Prime Minister chose not to meet with the premiers. We know he is not a collaborator. Once again, it is shameful. Also we know that the government in its platform in 2021 committed $4.5 billion to the Canada mental health transfer, and absolutely none, that we know of, has been sent. We talk about a mental health crisis, and we have a government here, once again, that is out of touch with reality.

We have also spoken about medications for children. We have spoken about it in this House and at the health committee. We know there is a lack of availability of children's pain and fever medication, acetaminophen and ibuprofen, and that has not changed. The government has not given Canadians a satisfactory explanation as to why. We know that every primary children's oral antibiotic is short. We know that mothers who choose to use infant formula cannot get it in this country. Still, we have a government that is out of touch with reality.

When I look at all these things in totality, the final thing we need to really understand, as the government talks about preventive medicine, is that the government refuses to get clean water to indigenous nations in this country. It is shameful.

The budget is not giving the money required because the government spent it all. That is the reason. It spent it all in the way it chose to, even though the premiers have asked for it to be provided in a different way. This is unconscionable. This funding agreement that has been foisted upon the provinces is unacceptable in this country, and I know that Canadians will reject it.

The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the health care system that he has broken and allow us to fix it. Our solution for health care is to elect a Conservative government.

[The Economy, February 8th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the member for Papineau that after eight years of the Liberal government everything in Canada is broken. Canadians cannot get a passport, 1.5 million Canadians are visiting a food bank every month, five million Canadians do not have a family doctor and Canadians cannot afford rent or a mortgage. Canadians have to choose between heating their homes and eating. This is all under the watchful gaze of the member for Papineau.

Everything in Canada is broken. When will the Prime Minister take responsibility for these problems and step aside so that Conservatives can fix what he broke?

[Health, February 8th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the Liberal government has added more to the national debt than every other government combined. Wait times for health care are the longest they have been in three decades. Canadians cannot buy medicines for their sick children. Canadians do not have a family doctor. I bet many Canadians watching this today are in that group. Canadians are tragically dying in emergency rooms around this country. The cupboard has been spent bare.

When will the Prime Minister take responsibility for the broken health care system and step aside so that we can fix what he broke?

[Carbon Pricing, February 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, that is absolutely fascinating, because my office receives hundreds of emails, phone calls and letters outlining the extreme difficulties people are having with their finances because of the Liberal government's terrible carbon tax and its terrible inflationist policies. They are the worst in 40 years. Even the premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, has put forward a comprehensive plan to reduce emissions and actually save Nova Scotians money, where that minister lives. How can he vote against such craziness? This makes no sense.

When will the Liberal government allow Canadians to keep the heat on and axe the tax?

[Carbon Pricing, February 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the Liberal government, Canadians can no longer afford to eat, to heat and to house themselves. We can take, for example, Phyllis, who lives just outside of Springhill, Nova Scotia. She turns the heat on in her trailer in the morning. She spends most of her day in bed with her clothes on to stay warm, and she gives herself a bit of heat in the evening before turning in for the night. Conservatives will continue to keep the heat on and take the tax off.

When will the Liberal government stop blaming everyone else, take some responsibility and axe the destructive carbon tax?

[Public Services and Procurement, February 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am very thankful for that response, because we do have an ideology on this side. That is to stand up for Canadians.

After eight years of spending, the Liberal government is out of money and Canadians are out of patience. Let me cite a few examples of the Liberals' crazy spending: $2 billion to a company that does not even exist, $100 million to the Liberal friends and of course to the Liberals' buddies at McKinsey, and also up to $750 million to a company that is now going out of business and shutting its doors. When will the government stop spending and give Canadians a chance to thrive?

[Public Services and Procurement, February 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, it is astonishing to think that we are going to lose $750 million and we should be accomplices to that. It is shocking.

Clearly, the government has become dependent on outside spin doctors for new ideas because, guess what, it does not have any of its own. It is exhausted and hopefully it has given up. Who is paying the price for all the Liberals' foolishness? Canadians are. There has been $104.7 million spent on contracts gifted to McKinsey, all because the Liberal government cannot be bothered to do its own work. When can Canadian people expect a full accounting for this ridiculous spending?