Euthanasia Bill Is Defeated In Canadian Parliament – April 23, 2010

A private members bill that would have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada was soundly defeated in Parliament this past Tuesday.  Bill C-384 had been first introduced in the House of Commons on May 13, 2009 by Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde (La Pointe-de-l’ile).  It was her third time she attempted to introduce the bill.  Her first two times failed when her private members bills were shut down by the 2006 and 2008 elections.  The most recent bill  had received first reading along with an hour of debate in October, but was twice delayed by Lalonde and then further delayed with Parliament was prorogued late last year.

The bill was defeated by a vote of 228 to 59 with two members stating immediately after the vote that they had mistakenly voted in favour when they had meant to vote against it.  Steven Fletcher, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Conservative MP for the Winnipeg riding of Charlewood-St. James – Assiniboia asked for a point of order following the vote.  The wheelchair bound quadriplegic wished that it be noted that he had abstained.  He urged that all possible support be given to patients in need but that he believed that “the individual is ultimately responsible” for his fate.” 

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told LifeSiteNews that the defeat of Lalonde's bill means that Canada should now move on to finding better ways of offering true health care to Canada's vulnerable patients.

"Now that the bill's defeated, this gives us the chance in Canada to continue to improve care for the vulnerable, to examine issues around elder abuse and how to prevent elder abuse in Canada, to look at issues around suicide prevention, and ... to ask Canadians to make sure that people with disabilities are offered true dignity and equality in Canada," he said.  "This is the way Canada needs to be going, not to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide."

He did stress, however, that "there's always a need for vigilance on the euthanasia issue."  "There will be another bill in the next Parliament," he predicted.  "That's just what's going on.  Our goal is to get ready for the next battle, which will be in a couple years after the next election."

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