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James Maloney

Liberal on Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act 2026-11-04

Replying to Rosemarie Falk (Conservative)

“Mr. Speaker, I felt the weightiness of what the member across the way spoke about. I also felt the weightiness in his voice as he delivered his remarks. I want to thank him for that, for taking this so seriously. In the majority of his remarks, he spoke about mental illness. He did say this is not a partisan issue, but I wonder why the Liberals voted against Bill C-218. This would have immediately moved on, and we would have been well under way to ensuring that the mental illness component would be looked at right away. How come they voted against that?”

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Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. The simple answer is that the language used in that bill did not accurately reflect the language used in the Criminal Code, and we have to get this right. The member is right; I feel strongly about this. Mental disease and mental illness are two different things from a legal perspective, and this piece of legislation addresses that with the language that is appropriate and would get us the result we need. Not voting for that bill was not a reflection of my attitude or anybody else’s attitude, but as I said during my remarks, I want to get this right. I do not want to have to do this again.