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An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying)

Summary

  • Allows individuals whose deaths are not reasonably foreseeable to sign a written agreement to receive MAID on a specified date, even if they later lose capacity to consent.
  • Enables people with serious, incurable illnesses expected to lead to incapacity to make advance written declarations waiving final consent for MAID, provided specified symptoms occur and safeguards are met.
  • Aligns federal Criminal Code MAID provisions more closely with Quebec’s approach by recognizing advance requests tied to future incapacity.
  • Preserves MAID safeguards while adapting them to apply in advance-request and loss-of-capacity situations.

Builder Assessment

Vote Yes

Overall, this bill is largely outside economic policy but modestly supports Build Canada’s emphasis on reducing bureaucratic inertia and improving public-sector efficiency. It does not create conflicts with growth, trade, or tax incentives, leaving most tenets neutral and netting a limited positive alignment.

  • Aligns by streamlining MAID processes and offering clearer, earlier documentation that can reduce administrative friction and costs.
  • Neutral on growth, productivity, exports, investment, and tax reform; no direct economic levers.
  • To strengthen alignment: add a standardized digital advance-request registry, national data standards, and reporting to quantify cost/time savings; include sunset review to refine processes and reduce red tape; ensure interprovincial interoperability to avoid duplication.

Question Period Cards

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Principles Analysis

Canada should aim to be the world's most prosperous country.

Primarily a health-consent reform with minimal direct effect on national wealth creation.

Promote economic freedom, ambition, and breaking from bureaucratic inertia (reduce red tape).

Expands individual choice and streamlines access to a legal service, reducing procedural bottlenecks and uncertainty in the health system.

Drive national productivity and global competitiveness.

No direct mechanisms to boost productivity or competitiveness; any efficiency gains are indirect and limited to healthcare processes.

Grow exports of Canadian products and resources.

Unrelated to trade or export capacity.

Encourage investment, innovation, and resource development.

Does not address investment incentives, R&D, or resource development.

Deliver better public services at lower cost (government efficiency).

Advance directives can reduce repeated capacity assessments, emergency decision-making, and potential legal disputes, improving predictability and potentially lowering administrative costs.

Reform taxes to incentivize work, risk-taking, and innovation.

No tax provisions.

Focus on large-scale prosperity, not incrementalism.

A targeted healthcare policy with limited macroeconomic implications.

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PartySenate
StatusAt second reading in the Senate
Last updatedJun 12, 2025
TopicsHealthcare, Social Issues
Parliament45