OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s Minster of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett appeared to have a “Freudian slip” in the House of Commons yesterday after commenting that people who provide euthanasia services are indeed “trained” to “eliminate” suicidal people.
Bennett, who also serves as the Associate Minister of Health, made the comment in response to a grilling by Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre, who yesterday blasted the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over its continued expansion of the nation’s euthanasia laws.
“I think it is totally irresponsible for the Leader of the Opposition to misrepresent what this (legal euthanasia) means,” said Bennet.
“All of the assessors and providers of MAiD are purposely trained to eliminate people who are suicidal,” she added.
Bennet then began to say “This is for…” before being cut off by many MPs yelling “oh! oh!” in response.
Poilievre had commented in the House that after “eight years of growing poverty and desperation” with Trudeau as prime minister, “more and more Canadians are suffering with depression.”
“Some of them are going to food banks, asking for help ending their lives, not because they are sick but because life has become so miserable and they want to end their lives altogether. The government has suggested veterans should end their lives instead of getting the help they need,” said Poilievre.
“Now the Liberals have announced that, a year from today, they will introduce measures to end the lives of people who are depressed. Will the Liberals recognize that we need to treat depression and give people hope for better lives rather than ending their lives?”
Poilievre, seeming flabbergasted, took to Twitter to post footage of the exchange.
I told Trudeau’s minister that government should never tell people with depression to end their lives.
You won’t believe her response. pic.twitter.com/LIhGHh1GVl
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) February 2, 2023
Later, Bennett tried to clear up her earlier apparent Freudian slip by saying, “Mr. Speaker, we on this side, and with the support of the expert panel and so many Canadians, will continue to develop and provide the kind of mental health supports necessary for people who are depressed.”
Despite consistent effort by the Trudeau government to further expand the nation’s euthanasia laws, pushback remains significant.
In fact, intense backlash from pro-life and mental health groups led to Liberal Minister of Justice David Lametti introducing a bill Thursday that will delay the expansion of Canada’s euthanasia laws to include those suffering solely from mental illness and so-called “mature minors.”
The text of the bill – titled An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying) – simply states that Canada’s expanded medical assistance in dying (MAiD) rules allowing those with mental illness to obtain euthanasia, will now come into force on “March 17, 2024” instead of this month.
The delay comes after a number of public scandals, including the surfacing of reports that Canadian veterans were being offered the fatal procedure by workers at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC).
In one instance, retired corporal Christine Gauthier said VAC offered her the tools to kill herself instead of helping her get a much-needed wheelchair ramp.
Gauthier was so traumatized by the incident that she wrote directly to Trudeau detailing her experience.
The now-delayed expansion was to come as part of the 2021 passage of Bill C-7, which further liberalized the practice of euthanasia to include non-terminally ill persons after it was first legalized for the terminally ill in 2016.
Pro-life advocates at the national level have long sounded the alarm over Trudeau’s Liberal government’s euthanasia program, which has drawn criticism on an international scale.
Canada’s increasingly permissive laws have allowed euthanasia to rise 32% since 2020, with more than 10,000 people dying in 2021 alone.