A number of
Senator Jim Cowan put the argument as plainly as possible: "The wording in Carter is very clear ... there is nothing in there about it being a terminal illness, nothing about age. Any attempt by Parliament to take away rights that have been granted and confirmed by the Supreme Court is out of order and I think the bill falls short."
Senator Andre Pratte put it this way: "The bill as it's written now tries to restrict the Supreme Court ruling and ... tries to limit doctor assisted death to people who suffer from terminal illness, and that's not what the court said."
The Trudeau government, perhaps showing instincts better associated with its predecessor, seems to have trouble fully accepting the rule of law. It's trying to squirm out from under the Charter ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada.
The SCC didn't create the Charter. Trudeau's stalwart dad did that to enshrine the rights of all Canadians and restrain government from intruding on those rights. The Court's function is to interpret the legislation and that's just what they did in the Carter case. They spoke and they spoke clearly. Trudeau is playing politics with the ruling, trying to water it down, promising he may obey the law at some time in the future. Trudeau is using a political ploy to undermine every Canadian's rights under the Charter.
Sorry, Justin, you may be a prince but you're no king.
My analysis of this proposed law is that the people that Mr Harper hired to make laws are still making laws. Harper's law makers drafted an unprecedented number of unconstitutional laws because they pleased their political masters. They must still be in their cubicles, not having noticed that their political master have been retired. Alternatively, they are working from the inside to sabotage their newly elected masters in hopes that their old ones will reward them for keeping the gears of government sanded.
ReplyDeleteHe'll get there. This is just to prove a point.
ReplyDeleteUU4077 - this is just to prove what point? Are you suggesting that Slick is playing games with the assisted dying legislation? That would be beyond crass.
ReplyDelete@ Steve - the government of the day employs its own statute draftsmen and expert legal advisors. Even an old law hack like me can read the Carter decision and quickly grasp that Trudeau's bill doesn't conform to the requirements.
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