Discussion · Government Orders
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal
“I voted the way I did because the government was already working on this law. We had to follow a court order to avoid serious problems. Over the last ten years, this issue has changed because of court rulings, people's real experiences, and public input. More countries now have medically assisted dying laws, and people understand it better today.”
“Madam Speaker, for one of the private members’ bills that the member referenced, there was already discussions of the government bringing in legislation. The member knows that. After all, there is a court order, and if we do not respect that court order, it will cause a great deal of problems. We need to be able to make changes. At the end of the day, I would suggest to the member, as I tried to do in my comments, that as we have seen the debate evolve, we have seen significant changes. Some of those changes are brought upon us through courts and others were through lived experiences. We have had more people provide their thoughts on it since we have now had it over a decade. One thing I made reference to earlier, which the member would no doubt be aware of, is there are many more countries today that have MAID legislation. I think it is becoming better understood, not only here in Canada, but abroad as well.”
Madam Speaker, for one of the private members’ bills that the member referenced, there was already discussions of the government bringing in legislation. The member knows that. After all, there is a court order, and if we do not respect that court order, it will cause a great deal of problems. We need to be able to make changes. At the end of the day, I would suggest to the member, as I tried to do in my comments, that as we have seen the debate evolve, we have seen significant changes. Some of those changes are brought upon us through courts and others were through lived experiences. We have had more people provide their thoughts on it since we have now had it over a decade. One thing I made reference to earlier, which the member would no doubt be aware of, is there are many more countries today that have MAID legislation. I think it is becoming better understood, not only here in Canada, but abroad as well.