Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to rise to present to this House a petition by Canadians concerned with what has become of the MAID system in Canada. There is a grave concern, which these petitioners express, that allowing medical assistance in dying for people who are not already dying devalues their lives; it endorses the notion that life with a disability is optional and, by extension, dispensable. These petitioners are very alarmed that when MAID is offered because of a lack of available service or treatment, it is not actually a real choice.

What the petitioners are seeking is that we protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable by not having MAID available for those who do not have a natural death coming within the next six months. I present this petition for the House for due consideration by members and the Government of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to have this opportunity to present a number of petitions to the House today.

The first petition is on a subject that is very important to my constituents, on the issue of pipelines. The petitioners are no doubt sick of the incessant teasing but failure to deliver from the members opposite. They say that the government continues to import foreign oil even though oil and gas companies are struggling in Canada, that Canada extracts and refines the most ethically sourced oil in the world and that the importation of foreign oil is worse for the environment and undermines our economy and our strategic interests.

The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to put in place a plan for an east-west corridor to replace foreign oil so that Canada's source of oil and gas remains Canadian and helps to stimulate our economy, provide for greater environmental protection and advance our strategic interests.

These are pro-pipeline petitioners, and I am pleased to table this on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, the next petition highlights a private member's bill that I tabled in the last Parliament. It is Bill C-257 from the previous Parliament. This petition is in support of that bill, a bill that would add political belief or activity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. The petitioners note that being free from political discrimination is a fundamental right here in Canada but that people do face political discrimination in certain situations.

The petitioners want to see the House support the previous bill, Bill C-257, which would ban discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity. They also want to see Parliament act to defend the rights of Canadians to peacefully express their political perspectives.

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling deals with the issue of euthanasia. I have tabled petitions on this topic before, but this is a different petition that highlights, in particular, concerns about recommendation 21 from the 2023 report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying.

Recommendation 21 deals with the issue of so-called advance requests. The petitioners note that persons who have made an advance request might no longer be able to confirm their wishes at the time of their death, especially if those wishes have changed. The petitioners express concern that advance requests rely on written documents describing a person's future suffering condition. Doctors and families might interpret the request differently from what the patient wanted. The petitioners also note concern that advance requests could lead to coercion or undue pressure for older adults living with disabilities, and they highlight ethical concerns about how an old request would be handled. They note that it is difficult for a person to predict their experience in a situation that they have not yet experienced or do not have the context to predict. As well, the petitioners say that Canada should increase funding for palliative care, hospice care and suicide prevention. They say that offering euthanasia rather than providing support services devalues those living with chronic conditions.

Therefore, the petitioners ask the government not to support any legislation related to the expansion of euthanasia, particularly along the lines of recommendation 21, the inclusion of advance requests. They want to see the House support an increase in government focus on advancing compassionate, life-affirming palliative and hospice care.

Mr. Speaker, the next petition I am tabling highlights the human rights abuses in Eritrea and calls for a stronger response from the government and the House.

The petitioners note that Eritrea has been ruled by a brutal authoritarian dictator under a totalitarian system for 30 years, with no constitution, no elections, no parliament, no freedom of the press, and no freedom of movement and association. They highlight that Eritreans flee indefinite military conscription, religious persecution and political repression, seeking asylum in other parts of the world. The petitioners also note that the government of Eritrea continues to try to perpetrate human rights abuses against people of Eritrean origin living outside the country and that Eritrean embassies have been sources of foreign interference. They highlight a number of instances of foreign interference being perpetrated by the Government of Eritrea. Finally, in terms of human rights abuses and international peace and security, the petitioners want to draw the attention of the House to the Eritrean dictator's alignment with Vladimir Putin and how that creates security challenges for the wider region by facilitating Russian interference in African states.

The petitioners want to see the government engage Eritrean political and human rights activists and pro-democracy groups and take a leadership role among western allies to challenge the malicious conspiracy between the Eritrean dictator and Vladimir Putin, which is contributing to Russian efforts to expand influence in Africa. They want to see an investigation of foreign interference by Eritrea in Canada and the enforcement of Canada's asylum laws to ensure that those affiliated with the regime are not able to come to Canada. They also want to see Canada take action to support imprisoned journalists and parliamentarians. I have read the names before; I will not do so again, but the petitioners highlight 11 imprisoned Eritrean parliamentarians, as well as Swedish Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, who I believe is the journalist to be held in prison the longest anywhere in the world. The petitioners also want to see strength in sanctions against human rights abusers in Eritrea.

Mr. Speaker, the next petition also deals with the issue of euthanasia. In particular, it highlights concerns from the disability community that proposals for the expansion of euthanasia and the existing track 2 system really undermine the experience of people with disabilities when they access the health care system and that offering medical assistance in dying as a solution for disability or chronic illness reduces incentives to improve treatment and care for people with those conditions.

The petitioners want to see the House protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable by prohibiting medical assistance in dying for those whose prognosis for natural death is more than six months.

Mr. Speaker, the last petition I will table highlights the severe challenges faced by the Hazara people in Afghanistan. The Hazaras have faces multiple genocides and waves of persecution as an often religious and certainly ethnic minority in Afghanistan. Their condition is very threatened under the Taliban at present.

The petitioners draw the attention of the House to the sacrifice and investment of Canadians in building up Afghanistan and the collaborations that existed, during Canada's presence there, with many people from the Hazara community. The petitioners want to see the Government of Canada recognize past acts of genocide against the Hazara people and to designate September 25 as Hazara genocide memorial day.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan for sharing his time.

I am honoured to rise today to present a petition. Many parliamentarians here will know that Coalition Canada Basic Income is meeting with many of us today. It is my honour to present on behalf of my constituents a petition that points out the need for a guaranteed livable monthly income so that no Canadian falls below the poverty line. The petitioners point out that the current patchwork of federal and provincial income assistance programs is transaction-heavy, has a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic costs, and could be replaced by a simple, straightforward guaranteed livable income.

The petitioners call for a financial safety net for all Canadians, looking particularly at the threat to our working life posed by artificial intelligence. They call on the government to implement a guaranteed livable income for all Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition today highlighting the concerns of petitioners regarding euthanasia in Canada. The petitioners point out that choosing to end one's life because of a lack of available services or treatments is not a real choice. They also point out that allowing those with a disability or chronic illness who are not dying to choose to end their life devalues their life and tacitly endorses the notion that life with a disability is optional and, by extension, dispensable. Offering medical assistance in dying as a solution to a disability or chronic illness reduces incentives to improve treatment or care for people living with those conditions.

The petitioners note that Canada does not want to be an ableist society. They also point out that people with disabilities have expressed opposition to allowing MAID for people with disabilities, or track 2, as it is sometimes known. They are calling on the government to protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable by prohibiting medical assistance in dying to those whose prognosis for natural death is more than six months.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to table e-petition 6579. It is a non-partisan petition.

This petition is in regard to the longest ballot, which I strongly feel disrupts the democratic process. It disrupts the election process for some Canadians, like seniors, the elderly and people who speak English as a second language. It confuses the process. We have to make a streamlined process that allows all Canadians to find the simplest path forward to vote for whoever they want to vote for. The longest ballot weaponizes democracy.

I present this petition to clean that up because I think people on both sides of the aisle have had enough.

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition to the government with regard to medical assistance in dying, also known as MAID. Due to a lack of available services or treatments, it is not a real choice. Allowing medical assistance in dying for those with disabilities or a chronic illness who are not dying devalues their lives.

The petitioners call upon the government to protect all Canadians whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable by prohibiting medical assistance in dying for those whose prognosis for natural death is more than six months.