Article content

Two weeks ago, Canada’s Supreme Court struck down the criminal prohibitions against assisted suicide. The Court gave Parliament 12 months to draft new legislation to put flesh on the skeleton left behind by the Court’s ruling. Or at least, that’s what most people think they did.

The Court effectively gave Parliament less than seven months to come up with a new law. Their judgment gives no consideration to the effect of a mandatory fall election. Because an election resets the legislative agenda, even if Parliament is close to passing a law in September, it would have to start all over again after the election. The result is either a rush to pass something before the writ falls in early September, or to pass something after the election in the three remaining months.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or André Schutten: Parliament needs more than a year to craft a robust euthanasia law Back to video

The Supreme Court recognized the difficult work that Parliament has before it. “[P]hysician-assisted death involves complex issues of social policy and a number of competing societal values,” it said. “Parliament faces a difficult task in addressing this issue; it must weigh and balance the perspective of those who might be at risk in a permissive regime against that of those who seek assistance in dying.”