Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet wants Quebeckers enabled to authorize their medically-assisted death before they lose their faculties, but Prime Minister Trudeau says he can't jump the gun.In an exchange with Trudeau on the floor of the House of Commons, Blanchet said the government should allow Quebec to introduce and oversee its own assisted dying program because if the Conservatives win the next election, they will scrap the Trudeau government’s assisted dying policy for the mentally ill."They will never pass MAiD, the Conservatives, so this prime minister, does he realize that he's acting as if he's afraid of the religious right?" asked Blanchet in French.Trudeau, the MP for Papineau in the Montreal area, replied: "A Conservative government would be a threat to rights and freedoms. That said, when it comes to medical assistance in dying, it is a difficult and personal decision. We need to ensure that we are protecting the most vulnerable. We also need to ensure that we are protecting fundamental rights and freedoms. So, when it comes to mental illness and minors, we will continue to reflect on the matter, we will continue to thoroughly study the matter before moving forward."Blanchet said the Liberal legislation allowed for provinces to move forward with advance requests and asked if Trudeau would support Quebec moving ahead on that.“Mr. Speaker, medical assistance in dying is profoundly influenced by a progressive idea in Quebec. Everyone agrees that a person who is suffering from a serious mental illness cannot make a decision on medical assistance in dying. There is a broad consensus about that idea, and a postponement is warranted. However, there are people who know ahead of time that their condition will deteriorate and who want to make the decision now. The government's bill could provide this option and reflect the will of Quebec."Trudeau said: "If a Canadian makes an advance request, saying for instance, if my health reaches such-and-such a state, can I have medical assistance in dying, but then the person might not necessarily give free and informed consent. So it's a very difficult decision for us to make and for our society to make."The last annual report of the Quebec Commission on End of Life Care showed there were 5,211 deaths by euthanasia in the previous year, accounting for 6.8% of all deaths in the province.On January 30, ministers from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon signed an open letter calling on the federal government to pause the idea indefinitely, and not just three years.The Bloc Quebecois first publicly advocated for the provision of medically-assisted deaths in January of 2006.
