Liberals to outline plans on assisted dying ahead of mental illness expansion

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The committee’s final report in June, endorsed by Conservative and Liberal members, recommended the government indefinitely exclude people with mental illness from accessing MAID.

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The committee heard from witnesses who argued that it is not possible to reliably determine when a mental illness is irremediable. It also heard from a number of witnesses opposed to assisted dying in general.

Several senators who sat on the committee wrote their own opinion, arguing its process was flawed and biased.

Fraser said Tuesday that his office sought opinions from people with a wide range of perspectives after the report was released.

“I feel confident that we’ve heard a range of different views in the development of the policy process,” he said.

The Conservative private member’s bill, championed by MPs Tamara Jansen and Andrew Lawton, would block the expansion from happening. It is scheduled for a vote at second reading in the House of Commons Wednesday — MPs could kill the bill with a no vote, while a yes vote would send it to committee for further study.

Fraser would not say how the government plans to vote on the legislation.

During a debate at second reading in September, Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, who is parliamentary secretary to government House leader Steven MacKinnon, said, “at the end of the day, I do not necessarily believe the exclusion is the way to go.”

Lamoureux pointed out that the government expanded the assisted-dying regime in 2021 as a result of a court decision in Quebec.

That law allowed, for the first time since MAID became legal in 2016, people whose deaths were not reasonably foreseeable to seek a medically assisted death. It temporarily excluded people with only a mental illness to allow further study of the eligibility criteria. That exclusion has been extended until next March.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2026.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press