The Legault government will finally introduce a bill to expand access to medical assistance in dying, as it promised to do last year.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, put on the order paper of the National Assembly on Tuesday his intention to introduce the bill concerning end-of-life care and other legislative provisions. Opposition parties have been increasing pressure for weeks to have Quebec legislate on this issue before the end of the parliamentary session, scheduled for June 10.
Last December, the four political parties represented in the National Assembly co-signed a renewed report on end-of-life care. The document called in particular for a modification of the law to offer people with incurable diseases the possibility of making an advance request for medical assistance in dying.
From then on, Prime Minister François Legault said he wanted to legislate on the issue.
Two weeks ago, Minister Dubé also told the To have to that he was prepared to postpone consideration of his Bill 19 on access to Quebecers’ health data to give priority to expanding medical assistance in dying. ” [Le projet de loi] 19, I hope we can do it, but I just want to be realistic: if I have the choice between medical assistance in dying and the 19, well, on the 19, if Quebecers re-elect us, we will do it by starting the next [législature]. »
The regulations of the National Assembly provide that a bill presented after May 15 “cannot [pas] be adopted during the period of work during which it was presented”. However, this rule can be circumvented if the government obtains the agreement of all elected officials. “By consent, we can do anything, and we have already done it,” recalled PQ MNA Véronique Hivon on this subject, earlier this month, during a press briefing aimed at “reaching out” to the government so that it legislates as soon as possible on the matter.
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