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Arpan Khanna

Conservative on Medical Assistance in Dying Safeguards Act

Replying to Garnett Genuis (Conservative)
“Mr. Speaker, as my colleague has pointed out well, the bill is fundamentally about the idea of advance directives for MAID. We could fix the mental health issue in 48 hours. We have already proposed splitting the bill and expediting the mental health section. It could move forward very quickly, so that is not the issue in tonight’s debate. The issue is that the government is proposing a radical change to our MAID laws to allow a person today to sign a document that would allow someone to kill them at some point in the future. The law would not even require that they be told at that future point in time. Someone could be killed without even being told what is about to happen to them, simply on the basis of a document that they signed years ago before they even had any lived experience with their illness. They might receive a diagnosis, be terrified about what that means, sign a document based on what somebody tells them and then years later have someone take their life as a result of that document. This is gravely concerning, and it is something that I strongly oppose and that we should strongly oppose.”

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Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, the Liberal government needs to slow down on advance requests. They have to slow down. There is deep concern among medical professionals, provincial leaders, community organizations, advocacy groups, hospices and others raising concerns. It is in the best interests of Canadians that we pass the mental illness component as soon as possible. We could pass it tomorrow. We are ready to support the Liberals’ initiatives. That would take care of the time crunch that they claim they are under. We would support that, but let us take the time to find a solution for vulnerable Canadians who may end up losing their lives without proper safeguards. Let us study this, let us spend time on it and let us get it right, because this is a matter of life and death.