Ministers Defend Assisted Dying Bill Amid Push Back From Grassroots Liberals

WINNIPEG — Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says the federal government considered referring its proposed assisted dying law to the Supreme Court to see if it's constitutional.

 

But she says the top court asked parliamentarians to come up with legislation when it struck down the ban on medically assisted dying last year.

 

If the government was to go back to the court for an opinion on its proposed new law, Wilson-Raybould says she believes the justices would bounce the ball right back and tell parliamentarians to do their job.

 

Wilson-Raybould and Health Minister Jane Philpott are defending the legislation at a Liberal party convention, where some delegates are pushing for a more permissive approach.

 

Wendy Robbins, the policy chair of the Liberal women's commission, tried to get an emergency resolution considered, which called on the government to drop its insistence that people must be near death to qualify for medical assistance to end their lives.

 

The party's national policy committee rejected the resolution late Thursday.