Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise to speak on the motion before us.

I was comforted to hear the member who presented the motion talk about the notion of molecular evolution. The work of Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl spoke very precisely about molecular evolution and the theory of evolution, which was so critical to understanding exactly when species changed and evolved. It is an amazing body of thought. We all do better when we embrace and think about evolution as a real scientific theory.

Equally, I think we are all supportive of innovation that leads to choice, giving patients choice in how they protect their wellness, and choice in which medical procedures they choose to explore and employ to prevent health outcomes they do not want. Choice is critically important.

Innovating our health care system in such a way that it accommodates choice is something our party has long supported. It is critical for improving health outcomes and giving patients the power to make the decisions about their bodies in a way that protects the integrity of their ability to survive and thrive as individuals in our community.

It is incredibly important that new ideas and opportunities be available to individuals who suffer from various afflictions. It is not just about treating the symptoms, but about treating the whole person. For people with perhaps significant drug addictions, a medical condition that affects many people, harm reduction strategies that embrace the whole person, that treat more than just simply the medical phenomenon of addiction can present themselves. Safe injection sites is an example of one of the great innovations in our country that has allowed people to live, thrive, make better choices and to embrace their whole health outcome to drive significant change into their lives.

Any proposal on the floor of the House of Commons that seeks to empower an individual to choose these new options is critically important. I am glad the member has brought forward an idea that totally and fundamentally embraces that sort of notion of harm reduction, of allowing patients to have the full scope and full access to all of the medical innovations and scientific research that has been presented to communities.

I am glad the motion calls for the provinces to have the power to set up these centres of innovation without having to go through extraordinary laborious processes, but rather to embrace what science, medical facilities and patients are advocating for. This a great step forward and one of the reasons why private member's bills and motions are so critically important. Sometimes governments do not embrace those ideas, but I am glad that private member has given us the opportunity to talk about it.

I am also glad that the motion talks about preventative care, getting to the root causes of issues, trying to prevent problems from becoming so large and expensive that the treatment afterwards becomes prohibitive, and instead taking the opportunity to look at root causes and invest in preventative strategies. This is another way of rooting out not just medical conditions but things that transform people's psychological capacity to contribute to society.

It great to see a member of the House stand and be proud about preventative care, proud of an analysis that would get at root causes. This deals with much more than simply the scientifically available dynamic that might be leading to poor health. Instead, it creates the opportunity to deal with the whole person, cure the whole person, so a person may again become a more contributing and positive member of our society.

These things are extraordinarily important, and the principles that are outlined in the motion are ones that all of us should and can support: the idea of evolution, preventative care, and seeking alternative treatments that deal with the whole person and not just simply deal with conventional medical approaches to some of the challenges we face as a society when we deal with public health care.

I do, however, recognize that most of the jurisdiction that is being discussed here is provincial in nature. While we seek to create a more broad-based national dialogue, while seek to stimulate areas of excellence in different regions, and while we try to bring as many voices to the table as possible as we explore new health outcomes, it is critical that we respect provincial jurisdiction in this area. It is also critical that we do not lead this conversation and be oblivious to the constitutional jurisdictions that were established in our great federation.

We look forward to seeing where the motion delivers the House, we look forward to having more debate on it, and we are happy to see the House coming around to those principles about which I just spoke.

Adam Vaughan

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