Oct 8, 2026 · 30 min · 16 segments
Jonathon looks at the mixed results from Parliament yesterday on so-called "Medical Aid in Dying" for those suffering solely from an underlying mental illness. He breaks down the political…
Jonathon Van MarenHostSo after this was announced by Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser at a press conference, every single liberal except for two, Floor Crosser Marilyn Gladue and Prince Edward Island MP Kent MacDonald voted against Tamara Jansen's bill to ban euthanasia for the mentally ill later that afternoon.
And before I get into some of the clips from the press conference and parliament to kind of give you an idea of what unfolded on Wednesday, I want to explain why I still think that yesterday was a real victory, even though it's a very qualified victory.
And in many ways, the reason that they're trying to force advanced directive legalization into the same bill as removing eligibility for those with mental illness as a sole underlying condition is because they need to keep the suicide lobby happy.
The groups... that support assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada are very supportive of them.
They can't admit they've lost the conversation, that they need to protect the vulnerable.
They've recognized that every single corpse of a suffering mentally ill person who gets killed by euthanasia is going to be laid at the doorstep of their government, but they need to avoid that while also still keeping the euthanasia lobby happy.
Approximately one in five Canadians struggle with a mental health problem or mental illness.
Among the subgroup, and this is staggering, of those 18 to 24, that rose to 10%.
And of that age group, 57% cited cost as a barrier to getting often life-saving therapy, counseling, or the psychiatric care that they need.
And as we've discussed many times in the Bridgehead briefing, it is almost impossible to get psychiatric care, life-saving psychiatric care, prescriptions for medications in this country.
Everybody who has a family member or loved one who has struggled with this can tell you horror stories.
Across Canada, the wait lists for mental health care is at minimum months, often months that those patients don't have, and very frequently stretch into years.
In 2022, to give you another pretty chilling data point, less than 44% of those who said they needed counseling actually got counseling.
And of those fortunate enough to get it, only 64% said that their needs were met.
So after this was announced by Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser at a press conference, every single liberal except for two, Floor Crosser Marilyn Gladue and Prince Edward Island MP Kent MacDonald voted against Tamara Jansen's bill to ban euthanasia for the mentally ill later that afternoon.
And before I get into some of the clips from the press conference and parliament to kind of give you an idea of what unfolded on Wednesday, I want to explain why I still think that yesterday was a real victory, even though it's a very qualified victory.
And in many ways, the reason that they're trying to force advanced directive legalization into the same bill as removing eligibility for those with mental illness as a sole underlying condition is because they need to keep the suicide lobby happy.
The groups... that support assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada are very supportive of them.
They can't admit they've lost the conversation, that they need to protect the vulnerable.
They've recognized that every single corpse of a suffering mentally ill person who gets killed by euthanasia is going to be laid at the doorstep of their government, but they need to avoid that while also still keeping the euthanasia lobby happy.
Approximately one in five Canadians struggle with a mental health problem or mental illness.
Among the subgroup, and this is staggering, of those 18 to 24, that rose to 10%.
And of that age group, 57% cited cost as a barrier to getting often life-saving therapy, counseling, or the psychiatric care that they need.
And as we've discussed many times in the Bridgehead briefing, it is almost impossible to get psychiatric care, life-saving psychiatric care, prescriptions for medications in this country.
Everybody who has a family member or loved one who has struggled with this can tell you horror stories.
Across Canada, the wait lists for mental health care is at minimum months, often months that those patients don't have, and very frequently stretch into years.
In 2022, to give you another pretty chilling data point, less than 44% of those who said they needed counseling actually got counseling.
And of those fortunate enough to get it, only 64% said that their needs were met.
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