TORONTO — Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she will be very concerned if federal legislation on doctor-assisted dying isn't passed into law within a few months.
Wynne says the province has protocols in place to offer guidance for families and physicians to deal with assisted dying until the federal government passes legislation to replace the law struck down last year by the Supreme Court.
However, she says if passage of the federal bill drags into years, or if it is never passed into law, that would be "a real problem."
The premier says she hopes the Senate and the House of Commons can sort out their differences over the legislation proposed by the Trudeau government and offer some clear direction to the country.
Wynne told The Canadian Press that doctor-assisted dying is one issue that needs a national framework.
Senators voted 41-30 Wednesday to amend Bill C-14 to allow suffering patients who are not near death to seek medical help to end their lives.
If that amendment passes, it would delete a requirement that a person's natural death be reasonably foreseeable, removing the central pillar underpinning the Liberal government's legislation.
The change would replace the eligibility criteria in the bill with the much more permissive criteria set out in last year's landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling, which struck down the ban on assisted dying.
The Senate is expected to continue debating the bill and vote on other amendments into next week.
