NDP MP Charlie Angus has proposed motion M-456 calling for the government to create a “flexible, integrated model of palliative care.”

The motion builds on a 2011, 200-page, all-party report on palliative and compassionate care.

“Not to be forgotten: The care of vulnerable Canadians” looked at end-of-life care, suicide prevention and elder abuse.

Angus has heard from individual MPs from all five parties who support his motion, but so far there are no party positions.

“This is something where we can put our political agendas aside for the moment and talk about doing something positive,” Angus told The Catholic Register. “I’m really hoping we can get crossparty support. I think we can win this motion.”

Motions don’t bind the government, but Angus knew if he proposed a private members’ bill that required spending it would be ruled out of order.

“I am personally supportive of the Angus initiative,” said bioethicist Sr. Nuala Kenny in an e-mail.

So far the Conservative government says it’s reviewing the motion.

A Health Canada spokesperson said any federal action on palliative care must “respect jurisdiction.”

Kenny isn’t buying the argument that health care is the provinces’ sole responsibility.

“The federal abrogation of leadership and funding re health care — regardless of provincial authority to deliver — is a tragedy,” Kenny said. “If there can’t be national standards re endof- life care we are in deep trouble as a nation.”

The federal government claims it is working nationally on palliative care. In the 2013 federal budget there was $3 million over three years to support palliative care training. In the 2011 budget there was a promise to “support the development of a framework for community-integrated palliative care models,” said a Health Canada spokesperson.

Angus thinks the federal government can and should do more.

“The federal government has a key role in establishing health care standards. The provinces deliver the service, but either we have a national health care vision or we don’t,” said Angus.

“And it’s a political choice people have to make. I think if you ask Canadians, ‘Do they want a fragmented health-care system in this country?’ they will say, ‘Absolutely not.’ ”

Given the reality of desperate families having to deliver their parents and grandparents to the emergency room every time there’s a crisis, the argument for a national palliative care plan is about both the services people need and saving money, according to Angus.

“It makes much more financial sense to do it this way, but also when you crunch the emotional cost this is the real thing. These are moments that can be very, very traumatic,” he said.

Given disparities in palliative care across the country, only the federal government can assure Canadians of a baseline of minimum service, said Angus.

“I don’t think it’s acceptable that in some areas palliative care is based on volunteerism and fundraising and in other areas there are plans in place,” he said. “We haven’t had that conversation nationally, and we need it.”