—Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the Conservatives' motion today, which states:

That, in the opinion of the House: (a) it is in the public interest to protect the freedom of conscience of a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or any other health care professional who objects to take part, directly or indirectly, in the provision of medical assistance in dying; (b) everyone has freedom of conscience and religion under section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; (c) a regime that would require a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or any other health care professional to make use of effective referral of patients could infringe on the freedom of conscience of those medical practitioners, nurse practitioners, pharmacists or any other health care professional; and (d) the government should support legislation to protect the freedom of conscience of a medical practitioner, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or any other health care professional.

I want to explain why the New Democrats oppose this motion. Throughout the debate on Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying, the Conservatives have said they are concerned that health care professionals would feel compelled to provide medical assistance in dying to patients, in violation of their personal or religious convictions.

However, the government has clearly indicated, and rightly so, that the bill would not force anyone to provide this service. Although it is not legally necessary to protect freedom of conscience, all of the parties on the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights drafted and adopted a compromise amendment, which was proposed by the NDP member for Victoria. The amendment states:

For greater certainty, nothing in this section compels an individual to provide or assist in providing medical assistance in dying.

Another amendment proposed by the NDP member for Victoria was also made to the preamble to ensure that nothing in this act will affect the guarantee of freedom of conscience, religion, and expression, as enshrined in the charter.

Any other additional measure regarding these freedoms would infringe on the provinces' jurisdiction over health because the regulations governing referrals are determined by medical regulatory authorities and professional bodies, not by the federal government's authority over criminal law.

During the discussions in committee about medical assistance in dying, the NDP and almost every party agreed that it was necessary to respect health care workers' personal conscience. We are therefore very proud to have introduced amendments that all parties of the House helped to draft in order to emphasize that there is nothing in this bill that would compel an individual to provide this service or that would infringe on the freedom of conscience, religion, or expression guaranteed by the charter.

The Conservative motion that we are currently debating is asking the federal government to infringe on provincial jurisdiction. I cannot support that. Each level of government needs to respect the others' jurisdictions. By adopting this type of motion, we would not be respecting provincial jurisdiction. Standards of care are established by medical regulatory authorities, not the Criminal Code.

There are a number of factors related to medical assistance in dying that are not included in the bill, and there are also some factors that are included but create vague definitions that were not set out in the Supreme Court's decision.

Throughout my speech, I will explain why it is worrisome that the Liberals are trying to push through Bill C-14 any way they can. Let us start with the process we must follow.

Once again today, during routine proceedings after oral question period, the Minister of Justice rose in the House seeking unanimous consent to debate Bill C-14 for 24 hours, right through the night, some time next week, on the pretext that she wanted to let every parliamentarian speak to the bill.

However, we had already proposed debating Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying until midnight next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. That is reasonable. It extends the debate and lets parliamentarians do their jobs. They could continue to debate an extremely complex and very sensitive issue on which there really is no unanimity, consult experts, and obtain input from witnesses who appeared and continue to appear before the committee.

The minister rejected sitting until midnight next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Furthermore, today, on a Friday, a day when not all MPs are necessarily in the House, she is rather aggressively trying to impose another process on the House to force us to sit for 24 hours. Who will watch this debate in the House of Commons at three or five o'clock in the morning? That is completely absurd, and it does not let parliamentarians do a proper job.

The Liberals have already imposed time allocation on Bill C-14, even though they said it was important to take the time to listen to everyone and have a thorough, intelligent debate on the very controversial topic of medical assistance in dying. That completely contradicts what they said when they were in the opposition. Every time the Conservatives invoked closure or tried to cut a debate short or speed it up, the Liberals were the first on their feet in the House to sound the alarm and condemn such undemocratic measures.

Now that the Liberals are in power, they are using the same undemocratic tactics they condemned back then to shut down debate on a very important subject: medical assistance in dying. I cannot believe what I am seeing. They said they wanted to give Canadians change. Now they are forcing us to accept a deeply flawed bill because, they say, they have to get it done by June 6. Experts have criticized the bill because it is not in line with the Carter decision or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This makes no sense.

I want to come back to some of the points that have been raised since the beginning by a number of experts and members of the House, including NDP members. This will open the door to legal challenges because the bill does not comply with the charter and goes against several processes.

I can cite people from the Barreau du Québec. Many experts and stakeholders have shared their concerns. In fact, there is a definition in the wording of Bill C-14 that refers to parts of the bill. That is a problem because the Supreme Court does not use the same language as Bill C-14.

The Supreme Court talks about a person who:

has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.

However, the bill talks about “reasonably foreseeable natural death”. That wording does not appear in the Carter decision at all.

Jean-Marc Ménard from the Barreau du Québec said in committee that by adopting a criterion that is more restrictive than what section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows, the bill would go against the charter. He said, “We should be aware that the impact of the law will in future be measured in light of section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.

Section 7 is broader in scope than what the bill is proposing, which clearly opens the door to legal challenges. What the Barreau du Québec does not want is for people who could have access to medical assistance in dying under the criteria in the Carter decision to no longer have this access because of Bill C-14, introduced by the Liberals.

That happened in Quebec with a slightly more restrictive criterion. For example, people stopped eating so that they would be eligible under the law. That is serious. Some people who feel extremely desperate about their condition, their situation, and their suffering and who do not have access to medical assistance in dying under Bill C-14 may try to end their life in one way or another just so that they can access the service. That is completely ridiculous.

People mainly want to access this service so that they do not have to suffer anymore. They will inflict greater suffering on themselves so that they can have access to this service, which does not make any sense. The minister does not see that. According to the Barreau du Québec, problems such as that may arise. Earlier, the minister answered a question by saying that there is a diversity of opinions and that she does not think that there will be any court challenges. She is in denial. This is coming from the Barreau du Québec.

I would like to quote some other people. According to the Collège des médecins du Québec, Bill C-14 is unworkable. The secretary of the CMQ believes that it would be far less complicated for Quebec doctors to not have a federal law than to have one. He indicated that the legislative measure that the Liberals hope to pass falls somewhere in a grey area between the Supreme Court's decision and Quebec's law.

Another quote gives me goosebumps. Yves Robert, the secretary of the CMQ, said, “Ultimately, the burden does not fall on the shoulders of legislators. It falls on the shoulders of doctors. They are the ones who are going to have to deal with these cases and these requests.”

Many experts have testified and are still testifying before the committee. They are raising worrisome issues and facts. The minister and the members of the committee examining Bill C-14 are ignoring these opinions but are still claiming that they are making informed decisions that reflect the opinions of most experts and the public's recommendations.

I will now talk about the patients. People who pleaded before the Supreme Court, including the Carter family, are saying that because of Bill C-14, Kay Carter and many people like her would not be eligible since their death is not foreseeable because of their illness. That is what Kay Carter's daughter, Lee Carter, said. It is serious.

The people who fought for this, the pioneers of the bill on medical assistance in dying, argued their case before the Supreme Court and won. However, we are taking a step backward. Those people who won their case in the Supreme Court will likely be denied this care by the Liberal government, which is not listening to the advice of experts or ensuring it upholds the Supreme Court ruling.

Another very troubling point is the lack of funding for palliative care.

During the election campaign, the Liberals promised to invest $3 billion in palliative care, end-of-life care, and home care. However, these investments were nowhere to be found in their budget, nor are they in Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying.

All the Liberal members who have spoken in the House have recognized that we need to work on a long-term strategy to ensure that patients have access to good-quality, long-term palliative care, and to ensure that all those who want to continue living with a decent quality of life are able to do so.

For this to happen, we need more than words. We need investments and a plan. However, we are not seeing any of that. As of today, May 13, 2016, the bill is still in committee. It will soon return at third reading, and the government has yet to propose anything. So far, it has invested zero dollars in palliative care. That is very worrisome. I remind members that our population is aging. More and more people will have serious illnesses and will be experiencing unbearable suffering, and the Liberal government has still not proposed any significant measures to address this.

In 2014, my colleague from Timmins—James Bay moved Motion No. 456, which was about a pan-Canadian palliative and end-of-life care strategy, and that motion was passed. The Liberals voted in favour of the motion to implement such a strategy.

The motion said that the government should work with the provinces and territories to develop a flexible, integrated model of palliative care that takes into account the geographic, regional, and cultural diversity of urban and rural Canada as well as Canada's first nation, Inuit, and Métis people and respects the cultural, spiritual, and familial needs of all Canadians.

The model would also have had the goal of ensuring that all Canadians have access to high-quality home-based and hospice palliative and end-of-life care, providing more support for caregivers, improving the quality and consistency of home and hospice palliative and end-of-life care in Canada, and encouraging Canadians to discuss and plan for end-of-life care.

The Liberals supported this motion. Then how is it that the Liberal government did not announce a specific and real investment in its budget or in committee after discussing medical assistance in dying with the experts? This is actually a very important bill. We have to accommodate as best we can people at the end of life who are suffering. It is completely unacceptable and irresponsible for the government to not have included a plan in the bill.

Nevertheless, we are pleased to have made an amendment to Bill C-14, which will protect the individual's right to freedom of conscience and secure a much greater commitment to palliative care, mental health, dementia, and services to indigenous patients. However, the money must be made available. Writing words on a bill is not enough. Investments are needed in order to implement a palliative care strategy.

Moreover, we must work in a non-partisan manner. The Liberals must open their eyes and realize that their bill is deeply flawed. Their bill could give rise to a thousand and one legal challenges because they are trying to push it through and are not considering the opinions of experts. The experts who returned to committee repeated what they said the first time. It is a waste of time and money.

The NDP is asking the Liberals to refer their bill to the Supreme Court to ensure that it is constitutional and thus prevent countless legal challenges. The Liberals are refusing to do this. What are they afraid of? Whey are they refusing to refer their bill to the Supreme Court if they are so sure that everything is just fine and dandy?

I hope that the Liberals will eventually listen to reason.

Anne Minh-Thu Quach

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