QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Medical Assistance in Dying
April 11, 2019
My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Senator Harder, on December 13, I asked you a question about medical assistance in dying, and you replied that you would be happy to have discussions with Senate leaders and coordinators to, as you put it, “determine how these issues can benefit from Senate consideration.”
I’d like to know if you have followed up on that commitment.
I asked a follow-up question, and in response, you undertook to, and I quote:
. . . have discussions with the Minister of Justice about how the minister intends on moving forward and with respect to how the government wishes to engage on these subject matters.
Can you tell me if you have followed up on this and, if so, how?
Thank you.
I thank the honourable senator for her question. I can report it is the intention, and indeed the requirement, of the legislation that was passed here that the minister, on behalf of the government, will refer the independent reviews to a committee of Parliament — a full review — by June 2020. And that it is in the context of this date that the government will both refer to parliamentary review and participate in that review at the most senior levels.
