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    • MAID expansion delay 'categorically' not a political move: justice minister

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    Canada’s justice minister and attorney general insists the decision to further delay changes to medical assistance in dying (MAID) legislation was not politically motivated and that the federal government expects the provinces to use the extra time to ensure they’re ready.

    The federal government announced this week it is delaying the controversial expansion of MAID — to include mental health as the sole factor — until 2027, after the next election.

    Arif Virani told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday that the government’s approach has always been to find a balance between the “moral conscience decisions†of MPs, ensuring “the dignity and autonomy†of patients and having safeguards in place to protect vulnerable people.

    “That remains our approach,†he said. “Now, the decision that we've taken to put a pause on this issue, about mental illness as a sole condition, has been informed by what we heard unanimously from both the people that lead the health-care systems around the country, but also to health care professionals that are responsible for delivering MAID.â€

    “The nurses, doctors and psychiatrists who spoke to us resoundingly (said) we need to put a pause to ensure that the system is ready, because it is not right now,†he added.

    The expansion of the legislation was set to come into effect this March, after having already been pushed back by a year. But several provinces and advocates have been calling on the federal government to indefinitely hold off on the plan.

    Virani acknowledged there are people who never want to see the system expanded and some who think it should have already been done.

    “And there is our governmental response, which is that we are not saying yes, right now, we're not saying never, we're saying yes, in the future when the system is ready,†he said.

    When asked whether the move to delay the expansion of the legislation again was a political one, Virani said that is “categorically†not the case.

    But when pressed on how the federal government will know the system is ready and whether it can ensure it will be three years from now, Virani said a parliamentary committee down the road will make those evaluations.

    He said giving an extended three-year runway is meant to “incentivize that system readiness.â€

    “We expect the provinces and the territories to be adopting the same approach and to be working on their system readiness,†the minister said.

    Despite the province and territories’ opposition to the plan, Virani said they are making headway in preparing for it.

    He also said the number of people seeking out MAID with mental illness as the sole factor is very small, making up less than four per cent of the total of patients seeking the process.

    “It's a small cohort,†Virani said. “We anticipate at the time such that mental illness as a sole underlying condition becomes available in Canada, three years hence, it will remain a very small cohort of people that meet the required conditions.â€

    “But we heard, not once, but twice, from that joint committee of MPs and senators, that among the testimony they received, the vast majority of that testimony indicated the systems are not ready.â€

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