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Canada’s Trudeau Government to Approve Medically Assisted Suicide
Canada will soon be offering assisted suicide for the mentally ill, alongside the already established medical assistance in dying for people with incurable illnesses.
The Trudeau government in Canada provided the latest ministerial update on the extension of the medical assistance in dying (MAID) statute to cover people with mental problems with all the amplification of a tin whistle.
The Trudeau government’s response to the February report by the special MAID joint committee of MPs was smuggled out in mid-June, when no one was looking, with the kind of fanfare generally reserved for unfulfilled electoral promises.
That should come as no surprise given that its authors — Liberal Justice Minister David Lametti and Liberal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos — do not appear to be supporters of Justin Trudeau’s decision to expand MAID eligibility to include persons whose only underlying ailment is a mental disorder.
When the law was revised in 2020 in response to a Quebec Superior Court judgement that limiting assisted dying to persons with “a reasonable foreseeability of a natural death” was unconstitutional, David Lametti was on record as opposing extending MAID to people with mental problems.
He opposed at the time on the grounds that it would endanger the life of someone whose health may have improved – an argument with which Jean-Yves Duclos, that most rational of philosophers, would undoubtedly agree.
Both have agreed to support a law that has been broadened to encompass mental diseases, due to an 11th-hour change from the Liberal-dominated Senate that the administration has opted to adopt without question.
But the Trudeau government’s statement reads like it was crafted by two guys who are embarrassed, if not ashamed, by the law.
Despite the seeming lack of enthusiasm among its supporters, it appears that Canada will begin state-assisted killing of persons who cannot be diagnosed by any medical as suffering from an incurable disease as of next March.
A few months ago, Parliament gave itself an extra year to develop a plan for implementing the next stage of MAID, and much of Lametti and Duclos’ response was devoted to a progress report on the actions being taken to standardise MAID eligibility evaluations.
There is no indication that the Trudeau government intends to reverse course.
The MAID joint committee will issue its final proposal on extending euthanasia to persons with mental problems this autumn, but skeptics should not expect much support from that group given its eagerness to broaden the eligibility criteria.
According to the National Post, Lametti and Duclos appear to be the best chance that a request for medical aid in dying does not always imply that the eligibility conditions will be met.
Last April, veteran Conservative MP Ed Fast filed a private member’s bill to reverse the government’s decision to extend MAID to the mentally ill while keeping the original euthanasia statute in place for individuals with incurable diseases.
According to Fast, the government’s extension “encourages death as a’treatment option’ for those struggling with the difficult challenge of mental illness.”
However, with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP backing the government, his efforts are likely to be in vain.
In that event, Lametti’s vow of “caution and prudence” while the MAID law reform was before the House of Commons becomes critical.
His and Duclos’ reaction to the special committee’s report suggests that any future development of MAID will be cautious.
Two of the committee’s suggestions in its February report — that MAID be expanded to cover “mature minors” and made available to those suffering from degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s who provide advance consent — were ignored by the government’s response.
Minors “deemed to have the requisite decision-making capacity,” according to the committee, should be eligible for MAID, however “for the time being,” it should be limited to those whose death is realistically foreseeable.
In response, the government provided little more than tea and sympathy. “(We) need to better understand the voice of youth on this matter, including Indigenous youth,” the letter stated, a reaction criticised by organisations such as Dying with Dignity, which wants MAID to be open to adolescents as early as 12.
Lametti and Duclos voiced worry about circumstances where people are unable to reconfirm their intention for MAID before it is administered.
While the initial euthanasia law was widely supported by Canadians as a means of reducing end-of-life suffering, the government recognises that expanding it to those with mental illness, let alone going farther, puts it on difficult ground.
According to US bioethicist Scott Kim, who spoke before a UK parliamentary committee investigating MAID, Canada currently combines “very open eligibility” with a “very aggressive medical delivery system.” In Canada alone, 10,000 people will die from MAIDS in 2021.
Trudo Lemmens, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto, said he initially supported MAID but now sees it as a sort of “harm reduction,” with the Canadian medical system embracing the idea of delivering medically assisted death “when people don’t have adequate access to social support and care.”
In medical circles, the concept of “incurability” for people with mental problems is still strongly debated. Sharon Kirkey of Postmedia recently reported on the example of a 68-year-old woman who had lived with severe depression and considered suicide for 15 years, twice seeking MAID.
Doctors then gave her ketamine, a medicine used to treat pain and treatment-resistant depression, and her depression was gone in two weeks.
Expert witnesses who testified before the special committee admitted that there is no medical data that can predict which people suffering from mental illnesses will recover.
In that event, Canada will soon offer assisted suicide, in addition to the already existing medical aid in dying for patients with chronic diseases.
It’s no surprise that Lametti and Duclos are uneasy about being the public faces of this new killing regime.
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Canadian Man Arrested for TikTok Video That Threatened Trudeau
A TikTok video that went live earlier this week has led to a Toronto man facing charges of threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Andrew Marshall, 61, is facing two counts of uttering threats.
On Friday afternoon, the Ontario Court of Justice granted him bail with a surety and restrictions after the RCMP charged him on Wednesday.
Following Monday’s upload to TikTok, CBC Toronto conducted its own independent investigation of the video. Marshall vehemently opposes what he perceives as restrictions on free expression in Canada in it.
“I get them taken down all the time— I make videos — or all my comments, that are just simple comments,” Marsh says in the TikTok. “It’s just getting ridiculous, Marshall said.”
According to the CBC more and more people are threatening politicians. The commissioner of the RCMP has hinted that further measures may be necessary to ensure their safety.
In the TikTok video, Marshall explains in great detail how he would brutally assassinate Trudeau and Freeland “if it was up to him.”
Marshall attacks multiple groups throughout the roughly 11-minute TikTok video, including the media, Muslims, migrants, and the police who defend the government.
Among Marshall’s bail terms are the following: he must not communicate with Trudeau or Freeland; he must not use the internet to make social media posts or comments; he must not own any weapons; and he must not apply for a firearms permit.
During the bail hearing, the prosecution provided all of the evidence that is often not published.
Nate Jackson, Marshall’s attorney, stressed his client’s liberties and privileges as a Canadian in an email message.
“He has the right to freedom of speech, the right to reasonable bail and the right to a fair trial,” he said. “Having secured his release from custody, we will continue to defend Mr. Marshall’s Charter rights as his case proceeds.”
Neither Freeland’s nor the prime minister’s office would comment on the allegations, according to the CBC.
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Canada’s Unemployment Rate Hits its Highest Point Since 2017
As the job market remains dismal, the national unemployment rate in Canada has risen to its highest point since 2017. This has led some analysts to question whether the Bank of Canada should be reducing interest rates more quickly.
In spite of a net gain of 22,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the unemployment rate increased to 6.6% from 6.4% the previous month. The rise was due to an uptick in part-time employment and a fall in full-time employment.
Outside of the pandemic years, the national unemployment rate has reached its highest position since May 2017, according to StatCan.
Rapid population expansion in Canada has increased the overall labour pool, but the country’s unemployment rate has persisted in rising.
The summer job market was especially tough for students, according to StatCan. Not including the pandemic, the unemployment rate among students going back to school in the autumn was 16.7 percent, which is the highest level since 2012.
Two days after the Bank of Canada dropped interest rates for the third time in a row, reducing borrowing costs to alleviate economic pressure, the most recent reading of the Canadian job market follows suit.
According to TD Bank economist Leslie Preston, who wrote a note on Friday, the central bank is “giving the OK” to keep dropping rates due to the bad August jobs report. Preston predicts two more quarter-point decreases at the remaining decisions this year.
According to CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, there are indications that the labour market is quickly contracting more than initially thought, since the unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points greater than the record low of 4.9% in June 2022.
“Due to this, we believe the Bank should be contemplating a quicker rate of reductions in order to bring interest rates to less restrictive levels,” he informed clients in a letter on Friday morning.
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US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates
Last month, job growth in the United States was weaker than predicted, prompting concerns that the world’s largest economy is beginning to struggle under the weight of increased interest rates.
The Labour Department said that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than the nearly 160,000 economists predicted. It also stated that job gains over the preceding two months were weaker than expected.
However, the jobless rate went down to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in July.
The report is one of the most important indicators of the US economy and arrives at a vital time, as voters consider presidential candidates for the November election and the US central bank contemplates its first interest rate decrease in four years.
Analysts said the latest statistics kept the Federal Reserve on pace for a rate drop at its meeting this month, but did little to answer worries about the trajectory of the US economy or how much of a cut it should make.
“There has rarely been such a make-or-break number; unfortunately, today’s jobs report does not completely resolve the recession debate,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Soaring prices in 2022 caused the Federal Reserve to hike its key lending rate to 5.3%, a nearly 20-year high.
Faced with increased borrowing costs for homes, vehicles, and other debt, the economy has slowed, helping to alleviate pressures that were boosting inflation but exacerbating market concerns.
As inflation has fallen to 2.9% in July, the Fed is under pressure to decrease interest rates to prevent additional economic deceleration.
Although job increases in August fell short of expectations, they were greater than in July, when a slowdown aroused anxieties and triggered several days of stock market volatility.
Last month, construction and health-care firms hired the most, while manufacturing and retailers laid off employees.
Ms Shah stated that the data in Friday’s report was mixed, but provided enough concerning indicators that the Fed should make a larger cut.
“On balance, with inflation pressures subdued, there is no reason for the Fed not to err on the side of caution and frontload rate cuts,” she told reporters.
Others, however, felt the advances were just steady enough to warrant a 0.25 percentage point decrease, as markets had long projected – though this could signal more cuts than expected in the coming months.
Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ senior North America economist, predicted that the Fed’s decision will be “close run.”
“The labour market is clearly experiencing a marked slowdown,” he said, adding that the new statistics were “overall still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession”.
Concerns about the economy are a major issue in the US election.
According to polls, a majority of Americans feel the US is in a recession, despite healthy 2.5% growth last year.
Donald Trump has declared that the economy is headed for a “crash,” and his team instantly latched on the latest data to criticise Vice President Kamala Harris, publishing a press release titled “warning lights flash as Kamala’s economy continues to weaken.”
Democrats have defended their performance, claiming that the United States survived the pandemic and inflation better than many other countries.
They believe the slowdown is a sign that the economy is returning to a more sustainable rate of growth following the post-pandemic boom.
“Although hiring has slowed, the US job market continues to generate solid job gains and wage growth that is consistently beating inflation,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated in a blog.
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