Garnett Genuis

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, our troubles seemed so far away, but now it looks as though they are here to stay. The costly credit card budget told us about the government's aspirations, but today's job numbers reveal the results. The job numbers are the report card on the government's performance. Unemployment is up 6.7% and youth unemployment jumped to 13.7%. Canada lost over 50,000 private sector [more]

Mr. Speaker, I had raised the issue previously of the grossly unparliamentary anti-Alberta remarks of that member. When I had, the Speaker responded, which is a matter of past practice, as you know. The Speaker said at the time, “It would not be proper if somebody did that, but unfortunately, the Chair did not hear that.” He later said, “I do not know [what] it was. I will check the record.” [more]

Mr. Speaker, this is legislation we are supportive of, and we are looking forward to further discussion. I did want to take this opportunity, though, and it relates to spectrum, the opportunities people are going to have and how people see their future, to ask the member to comment on the jobs report that came out today, because we have not heard from any member of the government on the jobs [more]

C-268 Mr. Speaker, I look forward to sharing a few thoughts on Bill. I do think it is important to begin by discussing the context, in terms of the economic situation of our country. This bill includes an aspiration about opportunities that can be associated with rural connectivity. As members know, we are supportive of that. The broader context, when it comes to opportunity for Canadians, is a [more]

finance minister Mr. Speaker, let us talk a bit about that 50,000 figure. The member said that there is an aspiration in the budget to, at some point in the next five years, create 50,000 jobs. In today's job report, released today, we hear that 50,000 private sector jobs were already lost in the last month. That is not an aspiration. Those are real concrete numbers reported not by thebut by [more]

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries Mr. Speaker, the last time therose in the House, he said the following: “It is interesting that the Conservatives have a member from Alberta asking questions about— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Mr. Speaker, pretending one's grades are better than they are is not a way to improve one's performance. The question was about jobs. The answer did not mention jobs. The budget barely mentioned jobs. We see the results today in the Statistics Canada jobs report. That report is not about aspirations; it is about results. Over 50,000 private sector jobs were lost in one month alone. Youth [more]

Madam Speaker, the nature of autonomy is that people change their minds. They might think that some future circumstance is intolerable to them. Then, under those circumstances, they have a different experience or an adaptation to those circumstances that they were not expecting. This is why, generally speaking, we do not allow our present selves to bind our future selves. As it relates to MAID [more]

Madam Speaker, in the “Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada”, from Health Canada, detailed data was gathered on MAID requests and on the number of requests that were carried out. Strikingly, in one year, 692 people made and then withdrew a request for MAID. This is interesting. These are people who, because of where they were at and because of whatever aspects of their [more]

Mr. Speaker, there has been some confusion in the debate tonight around the issue of whether a person could withdraw consent if they make an advance directive. Let us clear it up. If I sign an advance directive today but three weeks later, still having capacity, think I actually do not want to do this anymore, could I withdraw my advance directive? Yes, I could. However, if a person signs an [more]

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 [more]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent speech tonight. My friend across the way pointed out that this debate has been going on for a very long time. He said since the 1990s. I would say versions of this debate have been going on since the dawn of time, actually. It is notable that in 10 years, and through multiple phases of expansion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose not to bring [more]

Madam Speaker, I am opposed to this bill on the grounds of the advance directives proposal. There is nothing in the bill that would even require that a person who had previously, maybe years before, signed an advance directive be consulted or told what is about to happen to them. The bill would allow a person to be killed based on a piece of paper they signed perhaps years before, without [more]

Madam Speaker, the member pointed out that this legislation says that if a person were to resist, then the act of ending their life should stop, but what she does not acknowledge and should, I think, is that the legislation would not require that the person be informed before their life is taken. Very likely what would happen, based on an advance directive, is that someone would have something [more]

Mr. Speaker, just to pick up on that, I think that is a very important point about the way advance directives operate now and the proposal for an advance directive for MAID. Advance directives now are essentially negative, saying “Do not do this to me”, or “Do not intervene under certain circumstances”. It is necessary that such a framework exists for indicating non-intervention in certain cases. [more]

Mr. Speaker, my speech in the debate tonight was about advance requests for MAID, which are not about autonomy. Advance requests deny autonomy because they prevent a person whose condition has deteriorated from having a choice. They would involve the past self making predictions about the future self and binding the future self under conditions in this legislation where, incredibly, it would not [more]

Mr. Speaker, later today, the House will consider the federal budget. Ahead of that, I appreciate the opportunity to highlight the constructive proposals Conservatives have put forward with respect to reforms to make life easier for families, particularly to support families in the context of trying to balance work and family life. We have proposed various reforms, mostly to parental leave in [more]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ask my colleague just a simple question about the process around an advance directive. Does he think that a person who has signed an advance directive and then would be about to be killed on the basis of that advance directive should have it explained to them before they are killed what is about to happen? In the moment when their life would be ended, should the person be [more]