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Chris Selley: The Liberals' plan for MAID sounds good — if they aren't bluffing

Until Canada’s mental-health care systems up their game, medically assisted death for mental illness alone is out of the question

The federal Liberals on Monday solved two long-festering problems with Canada’s euthanasia regime, they’ve solved them broadly speaking in the right direction — one of the two, certainly — and they will now take your questions and dodge your flying shoes.

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In fact, I suspect this is one of those nice situations where the right thing to do morally also happens to be, on balance, the most palatable option politically. The minor miracle is that after punting for years, they’ve finally donned the big-boy pants, made a decision, and owned it.

Chris Selley: The Liberals' plan for MAID sounds good — if they aren't bluffing Back to video

The announcement in a nutshell is that the government will be preparing a bill that says “no” indefinitely to medically assisted death solely for a mental illness (which was originally supposed to take effect in 2023) and “yes” immediately to “advance directives” that will let people with degenerating conditions plan for MAID should they eventually lose the capacity to do so. Those deserve full and partial credit, respectively.

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

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