Conservatives pledge to not expand Canada's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

At a Ottawa campaign event on April 12, Pierre Poilievre, stated that, if elected, a Conservative government would not expand eligibility for (MAiD) euthanasia, but pledged that Canadians would continue to have access to MAiD.

The Globe and Mail report on April 12 emphasized that Poilievre will not expand euthanasia, in March 2027, to include people with mental illness alone.

Krista Carr

An article by Stephanie Taylor that was published in the National Post on April 12, interviewed Krista Carr, the CEO of Inclusion Canada. Taylor wrote:

Krista Carr ... welcomes Poilievre’s commitment not to expand assisted dying any further, she hopes he means that Canadians who are terminally ill would continue to have access, not those whose deaths are not deemed “reasonably foreseeable.”

She wants all federal parties, including the Conservatives, which Carr noted fought against widening access when the bill was before Parliament, to change the law to return the eligibility criteria to require that someone be determined to be close to death to qualify for an assisted death.

The current law is “very discriminatory” towards the disabilities community, she said.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition opposes all euthanasia deaths, but we recognize that stopping the expansion of euthanasia is necessary.

On April 1, 2025 I published an article titled: Elections have consequences. Vote for candidates that will oppose further expansions to euthanasia.

This is an important election for Canadians who oppose killing people.

Canada's euthanasia law has continually expanded. Canada's 2023 euthanasia report stated that there were 15,343 reported euthanasia deaths representing 4.7% of all deaths.

The Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario released a report from the Ontario MAiD Death review Committee indicating that there were at least 428 non-compliant Ontario euthanasia deaths from 2018 to 2023.

Canada's federal government has scheduled to allow euthanasia for mental illness (alone) beginning on March 17, 2027. A report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) that was tabled in the House of Commons on February 15, 2023 called for an expansion of euthanasia to include children "mature minors" and patients with mental illnesses and that patients with dementia be permitted to make advance requests for euthanasia.

On March 21, 2025 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee report urged Canada's federal government to:

• Repeal Track 2 Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), including the 2027 commencement of Track 2 MAiD for persons whose “sole underlying medical condition is a mental illness”;
•  Not support proposals for the expansion of MAiD to include “mature minors” and through advance requests;

Before you vote remember that elections have consequences.