The issue of doctor-assisted dying is heating up the closer we get to Trudeau and cabinet being sworn in, seeing as there’s a looming February deadline on the horizon. Trudeau signalled that he plans to ask the Supreme Court for an extension to their decision to strike the existing laws down, but that too poses its own challenges. The federal government had initially asked the Court for eighteen months, and they gave them twelve, at which point the government sat on it for several months before creating what looked to be a stacked advisory committee to study the issue. That committee is also in the crosshairs, as advocacy groups say that it should be abolished because of its stacked nature. The chair of said committee said that its members’ former positions against assisted dying are no longer relevant because the Court has ruled and they now have to come up with a system that will work to protect the vulnerable while enabling those Canadians who wish to die with dignity to do so on their own terms. It certainly couldn’t hurt Trudeau to let them report and see what they have to say, and then choose to accept or disregard it at that time. The very fact that he’s now forming government should also be a signal that he expects this consultative process to be something other that the one the government engaged in around the prostitution question, in that he is not expecting them to give one response in particular but to have a more thoughtful result in the end. I guess we’ll see. Meanwhile, advocates of religious communities came out against assisted dying again, insisting instead on more resources for palliative care, as though they were mutually exclusive, never mind that the Supreme Court has also made a clear ruling. (And one would think that if they allowed people who wanted to die on their own terms rather to do so, it would free up those resources that were otherwise needlessly prolonging their suffering that could be applied to palliative care, but maybe I’m wrong on that one).

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/659187808322605056

https://twitter.com/cmathen/status/658299297897824256

Good reads:

• Thomas Mulcair is expected to form a committee of defeated MPs and party stalwarts to examine why they lost so badly.
• Here’s a look at some of those NDP MPs now out of a job and unsure about their futures.
• Looking to lessons from Kosovo, it looks like the government might use military bases and contracted airlines to get those 25,000 refugees here.
• National Defence is looking to lose (by reassigning or otherwise) some 1100 “management” positions as they look to become a leaner organization.
• The Chief of Defence Staff is hiring “gender advisers” to reshape how military operations are planned, and to help deal with the sexual misconduct issue.
• Among the list of wishes for the Trudeau government comes the Palestinian government looking for official recognition.
• Criminologists and advocates are hoping that the Liberal justice agenda will be more principled and less punitive.
• Canada joining the small arms trade treaty will be more difficult than just signing on, because we missed the deadline.
• When the Conservative caucus meets, Deepak Obhrai will helm it thanks to seniority, and of note is that he opposed the Reform Act.
• The Conservatives are still raking in money despite losing.
• A Liberal lobbyist has lost his bid to have Lobbying Act provisions declared unconstitutional.

Odds and ends:

In case you were worried about the cats at 24 Sussex, here’s what’s happening to them. (The bat house will probably stay).

Also, when you compare 24 Sussex to other world leaders’ official residences, it underlies just how modest it really is.

If you care about these things, Liberal tax hikes on high earners could affect professional sports teams signing star athletes.