On October 18th, Ed Fast’s Bill C-314, a bill that opposed euthanasia for persons with mental illness, was defeated in its second reading. Although the bill was defeated, the vote being close to a tie may be hopeful for Canada.

The main political parties seemed to show what was expected in their voting. All NDP MPs voted in favour. Almost all Conservative MPs voted in favour, although several paired. It’s possible that the recently passed Policy 908 in the Conservative party accounts for this. The policy opposes further expansion of euthanasia and lists specific cases, including opposing the expansion for “people who live with psychological suffering (mental illness)“. The policy in itself was a sign of hope for the CPC. Overall, the vote may indicate a growing awareness of the dangers of euthanasia’s expansion.

No Bloc Quebecois MP supported Fast’s bill, although 1 MP paired. The vast majority of liberals voted against this good bill. However, 8 liberal MPs voted in favour of the bill. Their courage is remarkable as their party’s leader Trudeau has been pushing for the expansion of MAID (euthanasia).

Although it did not pass, the vote was almost a tie. The result was the following.

 

Summary of Vote No. 423 – Ed Fast’s Bill C-314

Yea  –  150

Nay –  167

Paired  – 4

Total  –  317


150 to 167 is a close vote. Thankfully, the special joint committee has been re-established to study just how ready Canada is for euthanasia for mental illness. Hopefully the committee will be able to recommend another delay. Hopefully, it will be found that Canada is not ready for the euthanasia regime’s abhorrent and harmful possible next step. Confidently, we might even hope that Canada will never take this step. Canada would not progress with such a bill and only deviate from any good wheat that remains among present weeds, running headlong into a political landscape of weeds in double measure.

Let’s hope that our voices will be heard as we make known our opposition to euthanasia for mental illness, the proposed next step in the Canadian government’s unrelenting push for euthanasia.

 

Sources

https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/votes/44/1/423?view=party

<a href=”https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/ottawa-parliament-hill-building_26922968.htm#query=parliament&position=1&from_view=search&track=sph”>Image by TravelScape</a> on Freepik

Schadenberg, A. (n.d.). Conservative Party of Canada passes Policy 908 opposing expansion of euthanasia. http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2023/09/conservative-party-of-canada-passes.html