Mulcair may seek delay to draft right-to-die law

If elected, the NDP leader might ask Supreme Court to push back 2016 cutoff

Thomas Mulcair said an NDP government would likely need to ask the Supreme Court of Canada for an extension on drafting right-to-die legislation and that he would allow his MPs to vote with their conscience.

“I hope not to, but since we’ve lost so much time and wasted so much time, that’s a real possibility and it’s the most candid answer I could possibly give,” Mulcair told reporters Friday when he was asked whether an NDP government would seek more time to come up with laws surrounding physician-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court reached a unanimous and historic decision known as Carter vs. Canada this February, when it said patients who are suffering desperately have a constitutional right to end their lives through doctor-assisted suicide.

The Supreme Court granted Parliament one year ending February 2016 to enact new legislation that would determine federal guidelines surrounding consent, timelines, the extent of medical assistance, residency requirements and other issues.

The other option would be not to enact federal legislation and the ruling would stand as an expression of principles, which states that people suffering from major illness, disease or disability that inflicts intolerable physical or psychological suffering have the constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide. The details would then be left up to the provinces and medical regulatory bodies.

The Conservative government said in February that it would not ask the Supreme Court for an extension, but Mulcair said he probably would.

“I want us to get there, but I’m just being very candid when I say the February deadline, forming government and probably being sworn in at the end of October . . . it would be very tough to meet, but we will do everything in our power to meet it,” Mulcair said.

The NDP leader accused the Conservative government of Stephen Harper of wasting time on the issue, then not doing enough to ensure a diversity of voices on a three-member panel put together to consult with Canadians this summer.

Mulcair’s comments came at a campaign stop in Edmonton, where he promoted the NDP proposal to invest in urban infrastructure that would see Toronto commuters get the largest share of a 20-year national transit funding plan.

The party is committing $12.9 billion over two decades to the region’s infrastructure, including $7.7 billion that would be targeted exclusively to transit projects, if the party forms the next government following October’s federal election.

“It would be very tough to meet (the deadline), but we will do everything in our power . . .” THOMAS MULCAIR NDP LEADER ON TRANSIT FUNDING

The Toronto-area funding is part of the NDP’s 20-year Better Transit Plan that includes $1.3 billion annually for infrastructure across the country over 20 years.

“Canadians are increasingly frustrated as they make their way to school or work each day, faced with congested roads, packed buses, trains or streetcars and subways in need of upgrades,” Mulcair said.

Mulcair is promising to eliminate the deficit while rolling out the infrastructure program he says will create 54,000 construction, manufacturing and transit operation jobs.

The Toronto area would get $1.6 billion of $7.2 billion in funding that the NDP says would flow in the first four years if it forms the government. That money is separate from other pledges such as housing.

It would be up to municipalities and provinces to determine their project priorities. With files from Bruce Campion-Smith