Fundraising for Rare Disease  Mr. Speaker, Beaches—East York constituents, Terry and Georgia Pirovolakis are committed to saving their toddler Michael, who suffers from an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease known as SPG50. Among many other devastating outcomes of this disease, Michael's life will be cut incredibly short without a cure.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, the advantage of any view that respects personal autonomy is that one is not tied to a decision one has made: one can always revisit it. The importance of advance requests is that people might lose capacity. If one is suffering intolerably, as in the case of Audrey Parker, but is so worried that she is not going to be able to make a decision to end her life and access death with dignity because she might lose capacity, then we, of course, need an advance request and that is exactly what this bill would provide.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, it is supportable, particularly at second reading. The Council of Canadian Academies identified three kinds of advance requests. One is as in the case of Audrey Parker, which I mentioned, where someone not only is diagnosed but is already suffering intolerably. This bill would address that issue, and I am glad that it would.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I can honestly say I have no idea, and I do not think the 90 days are justified in the end. I think the committee should examine this timeline and correct it. I hope, when this bill comes back to the House for third reading, that we have avoided the blanket exclusion for mental illness.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I apologize in advance if there is noise in the background; it is either traffic or my kids, so I have chosen traffic. I want to start first by speaking to what is at stake with Bill C-7 and with the medical assistance in dying framework overall. What is at stake fundamentally is, first, alleviating intolerable, cruel suffering.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, of course, no one is going to disagree with improving the lives of our seniors through better palliative care, but the soft paternalism that ran through those comments is completely fabricated, as though if we just focus on assisted living and just provide additional support, nobody in any position is going to want to end their life and exercise personal autonomy and individual rights.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I am very appreciative of the fact that the member highlighted reconciliation and indigenous issues. Progress has been imperfect at times. There has been some success, such as over 60% of all long-term boiled water advisories lifted, but there has not been enough progress.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I said at the time of prorogation that I would have liked our committee work to continue, but I also did not think that the outrage at the time was entirely warranted, given we were really talking about losing weeks of committee time and a mere day or two of House time.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I will say very simply that similarly to other industries, such as tourism and hospitality, many elements of the arts and culture industry are going to have a very challenging time coming back in the short to medium term. Obviously we are not going to see large scale in-person events, for example, so the throne speech did commit to sector-specific support for industries that are more deeply affected by the pandemic.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, do not let my working from home and the technology suggest that there is any lack of enthusiasm for what we saw in the throne speech. I had enthusiasm for the 2019 throne speech as well, and as I say, we see a mixture of commitments. Of course we want to carry through with gun control and pharmacare and other commitments from 2019.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, at the outset, I want to thank every constituent in Beaches—East York and every Canadian across our country who has stepped up in these difficult times, whether they are essential front-line workers in health care, grocery stores or food supply chains, or whether they are teachers or individuals looking after loved ones.

Petitions  Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition from over 100 students at Notre Dame High School in Beaches—East York. They call attention to the inadequate housing on reserve and the lack of clean water. They note that, as a matter of basic equality and human rights, this is unacceptable in Canada.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, the member should know that we have invested billions of dollars through bilateral agreements with provinces and we have set a priority of home care, including palliative care. The member should know that health care, fundamentally, and the delivery of palliative are within the provincial jurisdiction.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, I trust the member heard me when I quoted not only the Supreme Court, which the Quebec Court was reiterating the Supreme Court's criteria, but also the Alberta Court of Appeal, which was again reiterating the Supreme Court's criteria. The dichotomy between palliative care and death with dignity is so completely false.

Criminal Code  Madam Speaker, this is by far the most complicated area. There are some easy cases, like the Audrey Parker case, where people are already eligible for MAID, they understand their condition and it is very clear an advance request ought to be in place. It is harder, but still fairly straightforward, when people are diagnosed with a disease and there is a short-term trajectory when they can see that they are going to deteriorate significantly.