Discussion · Government Orders
Andrew Lawton Conservative
“Liberals used to support expanding medically assisted dying to people with mental illness, but they changed their minds once they saw the problems. Now the government is rushing through advance requests. I ask my colleague why we should accept this rushed timeline, when we will likely find out in a few years that the safeguards do not work.”
“Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his work on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. I note that several of the members of the Liberal government who have spoken in favour of stopping the expansion of MAID to people with mental illness were, a few years ago, speaking in favour of expanding MAID to mental illness. The difference of a couple of years was enough for people to realize that this expansion should not be allowed to proceed. In that context, I wonder if my colleague could offer his thoughts on why we should accept the government’s artificial timeline to ram through advance requests when it is more than likely that in a few years, we will reach the same conclusion that we are reaching now on mental health, which is that the safeguards are failing and that can never be adequately woven into our MAID system.”
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his work on the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying. I note that several of the members of the Liberal government who have spoken in favour of stopping the expansion of MAID to people with mental illness were, a few years ago, speaking in favour of expanding MAID to mental illness. The difference of a couple of years was enough for people to realize that this expansion should not be allowed to proceed. In that context, I wonder if my colleague could offer his thoughts on why we should accept the government’s artificial timeline to ram through advance requests when it is more than likely that in a few years, we will reach the same conclusion that we are reaching now on mental health, which is that the safeguards are failing and that can never be adequately woven into our MAID system.