The National Assembly on Wednesday passed by a majority the revision of the End-of-Life Care Act, which will legalize advance requests for medical care for the dying. Be careful though: eligible people may not be granted access for two years.
MPs discussed Health Minister Sonia Bélanger’s Bill 11 this morning, which will revise Quebec’s end-of-life provisions nine years after the first bill was passed. Only two elected members of the Liberal Party opposed the adoption: Filomena Rotiroti and Linda Caron. Liberal MNA André A. Morin abstained.
The revision of the End-of-Life Care Act follows the submission of a bipartisan report in 2021 encouraging Quebec to allow pre-applications. Once the new legislation goes into effect, Quebecers diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will be able to request euthanasia before their cognitive abilities deteriorate. People affected by a “serious physical impairment resulting in significant and permanent disability” are also entitled to such care.
The last-minute deadline of 24 months granted by Minister Bélanger to set up a pre-application procedure remains in place. However, the elected representative of the Avenir Québec coalition made it clear on Wednesday that it was a “limit” and not a “target”.
“I have already expressed my desire for a very quick action plan to implement it,” she told the parliamentary press minutes after her bill was passed. “We will switch to work mode. I really promised that and we’ll get there as soon as possible. »
Last week, the minister explained those new deadlines by saying in an interview that Quebec should align itself with the federal government and the penal code before moving forward. The opposition parties in the National Assembly had in turn accused him of hiding behind Ottawa.
This time Ms Bélanger avoided naming the federal government when asked to explain the reasons for the deadline. “We have to comply with the professional orders […]”We have to set up the training programs, we have to train the competent professionals and we have to train them properly,” she said. “We also need to create a national register. […] We need to develop a set of clinical tools. »
Referring to the need for a “liaison” with Ottawa, she said last week, the minister declined to respond.