'People will continue to have the right to make that choice,' Pierre Poilievre said, just days after recommitting to the status quo on abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy.
(LifeSiteNews) -- Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre says he will not overturn Canada's current euthanasia laws which allow the non-terminally ill to be killed, but said he will not expand the practice either.
“People will continue to have the right to make that choice, the choice for themselves,” said Poilievre while speaking at a campaign event on Saturday in Ottawa. “We are not proposing to expand Medical Assistance in Dying [MAiD] beyond the existing parameters.”
“That said, we also believe that we need better healthcare so that people have all sorts of options.”
His comments bring to light the issue of euthanasia, called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in Canada, for perhaps the first time in the lead up to the election.
While Poilievre's comments are not surprising given the fact he has been “red-lighted” by Campaign Life Coalition for his pro-abortion views – views he restated twice this campaign by pledging to "never" restrict abortion in Canada, which is currently permitted through all nine months of pregnancy – the remarks drew concern from those worried about the nation's ever-expanding death regime.
READ: Poilievre vows Conservatives will 'never' change law allowing unlimited abortion
In a press release sent to LifeSiteNews, Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) policy analyst Daniel Zekveld responded to Poilievre's statement writing, “ARPA Canada supports the refusal to expand MAiD further. Canada already has one of the most permissive euthanasia laws in the world, and in 2023 nearly one in every twenty deaths was due to euthanasia.”
"It is unclear whether Poilievre’s answer applies to the already-legislated but not-yet-in-effect expansion of MAID to people with mental illness as their sole underlying condition, scheduled to take effect March 2027," said Zekveld.
Zekveld observed that Poilievre’s statement “suggests he would not tighten eligibility requirements, but his position remains unclear. Poilievre – and all party leaders – should clarify their stance on the U.N. Committee’s report and recommendations.”
Zekveld's reference to the United Nations refers to a report published by the group's Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which sounded the alarm over Canada's MAID program, urging the country to halt “Track 2 MAiD,” – the term used to describe euthanasia for those who are not terminally ill – stop the planned 2027 expansion of euthanasia to those suffering solely from mental illness, and reject “advance directives” for euthanasia.
It is worth noting that the Conservatives have opposed the expansion of MAiD for some time, but recent legislative attempts to stop the expansion outright instead of just delay it, such as through Bill C-314, have failed.
Moreover, while much of the discussion on MAiD surrounds Track 2 cases and future expansions, the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that the practice is outright evil and must not be permitted, regardless if someone is terminally ill or not.
The most recent data show that MAiD is the sixth-highest cause of death in Canada, with Health Canada reporting in 2022 that 13,241 Canadians died by MAiD lethal injections. That figure accounted for 4.1 percent of all deaths in the country that year, and represented a 31.2 percent increase from 2021, the first year euthanasia was available to those who were not terminally ill.
