John Aldag, Liberal Member of Parliament for 59007 Cloverdale-Langley City (BC)

John Aldag, Liberal Member of Parliament for 59007 Cloverdale-Langley City (BC)

"
Q: Position on marijuana? A: Today, marijuana trade in BC = $6B, proceeds to org crime. Remove from crime, control access -> safer streets.
"
7:51pm - 7 Oct 15 from Langley, British Columbia

https://www.twitter.com/jwaldag/status/651953059224944640

February 2nd, 2016 / 8:10 p.m.

Liberal

John Aldag Cloverdale—Langley City, BC

Thank you.

I'd like to continue along with what we were just talking about a bit in regard to the idea of blockages as well as access. It's about looking at the power of the colleges across the country to influence where things go.

I'll go back a step. I've had a number of doctors speak to me about the use of medicinal marijuana as an example of where we have something that's legal, but it's only somewhat clear in the profession about what's allowed or what's not allowed. I've had some physicians say that they won't prescribe because it's unclear with the CMPA what the liabilities are. Some feel that the colleges of various jurisdictions will single them out if they're participating too much in prescribing.

I'm hoping you can put my mind at ease and say that the colleges will be enablers as opposed to setting up barriers to access. We've heard a lot about conscientious objection. There will be a body of physicians who simply don't want to participate and I'm hoping that won't influence the professional bodies that oversee this to create disincentives for participation. That could come through any number of ways. It can be sanctions. It can be the threat of sanctions. It can be threatening, or reducing the scope of licences because of over-prescribing whatever, or over-participation, or not doing a full range of things. We've had some discussions about whether people specialize in this. Does it limit their ability to practice the full range of medicine?

I would like to hear from your perspective, from the colleges' perspectives, about how we ensure that we don't end up with arbitrary restrictions or limitations to access and actually are able to enable those physicians. We've heard that upwards of 30% are showing support for participating. How do we ensure they are able to participate in physician-assisted dying initiatives and not have the colleges hanging over them?

https://openparliament.ca/committees/physician-assisted-dying/42-1/10/john-aldag-5/