Roundup: A couple of notes on the assisted dying debate

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The debate on the assisted dying bill starts this week, so expect all manner of hyperbolic commentary on all sides of the debate. Because the government has talked about extending sitting hours in order to accommodate the debate, one expects that over the next couple of sitting weeks, we’ll have about two hundred second reading speeches that basically say “What about palliative care?!” and a lot of MPs who deliberately try to remain ambivalent about the topic, because this remains one of those topics that most MPs won’t touch with a bargepole. It was one of the things that Jason Kenney was grousing about over the Twitter Machine over the weekend – the implication that MPs wouldn’t deal with the issue and forcing the courts to was appreciably false because they twice voted down a Bloc private members’ bill on the subject. Of course, major policy like this should never be the domain of private members’ business, and that governments of either stripe for two decades avoided dealing with the issue is exactly proof of a lack of moral courage, but hey, since when do facts or context matter in these kinds of debates? Here’s a look at Justice Committee chair Anthony Housefather as the assisted dying bill looms on his schedule, and I’ll be curious to see if any changes do come out of the hearings – particularly around the “imminent death” clause, given that it is one of the most problematic aspects of the current bill as far as complying with the Supreme Court decision. And while the likes of Andrew Coyne continue to meltdown over the Twitter Machine about “they want to euthanise children!” I’ll leave you with this reality check.

Good reads:

  • It would certainly appear that the vast majority of privacy breaches by government departments aren’t being reported to the Privacy Commissioner.
  • It looks like ballistic missile defence will be something considered as part of the defence review.
  • Health minister Jane Philpott is hoping to have a new health accord signed with the provinces by year’s end.
  • The government’s new pay system is glitchy and has tonnes of problems, but they’re rolling out more departments to it nevertheless.
  • CRA’s uncollected tax debt has more than doubled in recent years.
  • The Paris climate agreement formally gets signed on Friday, and not all oil companies are worried about it.
  • The government is considering dedicated paternity leave time under proposed reforms to parental leave benefits.
  • Scott Feschuk gives his satirical take on the demise of Thomas Mulcair and the Leap Manifesto.

Odds and ends:

The government has ordered an “honourary” Syrian consulate in Montreal be shut down.