Discussion · Government Orders
Ben Carr Liberal
“This bill only decriminalizes advance requests for medical assistance in dying, leaving the rules to the provinces. I want to know if the Leader of the Opposition would support that decriminalization if his concerns about the rules were addressed.”
“Madam Speaker, I respect a number of the things the Leader of the Opposition raised. I know it is a very difficult topic for many Canadians. I can remember my father, in the final stages of his cancer battle, struggling with what he wanted to do in terms of his directions. As we know, the bill would decriminalize advance directives. It would not set the framework. It would put forward the conversation, of course, that would take place between the provinces, but really, in this chamber it is about decriminalization. Does the Leader of the Opposition see a path in which, if he were satisfied with a framework that alleviated the concerns he raised in his speech, he would accept the decriminalized element of the process that this bill tries to achieve?”
Madam Speaker, I respect a number of the things the Leader of the Opposition raised. I know it is a very difficult topic for many Canadians. I can remember my father, in the final stages of his cancer battle, struggling with what he wanted to do in terms of his directions. As we know, the bill would decriminalize advance directives. It would not set the framework. It would put forward the conversation, of course, that would take place between the provinces, but really, in this chamber it is about decriminalization. Does the Leader of the Opposition see a path in which, if he were satisfied with a framework that alleviated the concerns he raised in his speech, he would accept the decriminalized element of the process that this bill tries to achieve?