Ontario MPP tries to rally federal Liberal vote on genetic discrimination bill
OTTAWA — When Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould turned to the provinces to help make the constitutional case against a bill on genetic testing, it is unlikely Ontario legislator Mike Colle was the one she hoped would view it as a call to action.
But it was indeed Colle, a Liberal first elected to the Ontario legislature in 1995, who took Wilson-Raybould’s recent efforts to drum up opposition to the bill as a cue to ramp up his own efforts to support it.
Wilson-Raybould wrote to the premiers this week about whether they think Bill S-201, designed to prevent anyone from having to undergo genetic testing or disclose the results of such tests in order to get insurance, strays into provincial jurisdiction.
“I think it’s really appalling that they’re hiding behind this provincial jurisdictional, constitutional excuse for not … ending discriminatory practices in provinces,” said Colle, who is pushing similar legislation at the Ontario legislature.