Some liberals stood up....will they be bashed or allowed to stand.(see Vertebrae)

Bloggers note: Although the message has been sent ...the will of the leader is clear....Whether the MPs GO robot or they keep their consciences... Thank God the green light approval process did not include complete Robotization  of Our MPs....  Stay tuned.

P.S. If the Chair of the committee Liberal MP Rob Oliphant (Don Valley West, Ont.) already caved-in to the Trudeau dictate (so called charter right) this speaks ill of transference and free votes and conscience ..


http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2016/02/22/leblanc-backs-away-from-whipped-vote-on-assisted-dying-bill-but-grit-mps-are/45354/?mcl=&muid=

LeBlanc backs away from whipped vote on assisted dying bill, but Grit MPs are ‘comfortable,’ call it a

Charter of Rights issue

By RACHEL AIELLO |
Published: Monday, 02/22/2016 12:00 am EST

             

Liberals late last week were backing away from whipping the vote on the government’s upcoming and controversial legislation on doctor-assisted suicide saying it’s too early to determine how the vote will go without seeing the bill, but Liberal MPs on the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying told The Hill Times earlier in the week that they were “comfortable” with the whipped vote.

Two weeks ago, Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.) declared the vote on the eventual right-to-die legislation will be a whipped vote for the Liberal caucus because it’s a Charter of Rights and Freedoms issue, but he told The Globe and Mail on Friday that the government will now decide whether MPs will be forced to vote for the legislation after the parliamentary committee releases its report and not until the bill is drafted.

“We decided to delay the decision about whether or not it’s a whipped vote. It’s premature to come to a final conclusion like that,” Mr. LeBlanc told The Globe and Mail. “We’re going to discuss the bill and the committee report in our caucus and we will make the decision as to how the bill be handled once the bill is introduced in the House.”

House Chair of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying and Liberal MP Rob Oliphant (Don Valley West, Ont.) told The Hill Times that he was relieved the Liberals have backed off on the whipped vote, for now.

“When I watched the news on television or read the articles and it’s mostly about the whipping of a vote. … Having spent really hundreds of hours in the last month on making sure that we have a careful substantial report that is thorough and everything I want the discussion to be about our ideas,” Mr. Oliphant told The Hill Times. “My first reaction is good,” he said.

Liberals late last week were backing away from whipping the vote on the government’s upcoming and controversial legislation on doctor-assisted suicide saying it’s too early to determine how the vote will go without seeing the bill.

But Mr. Oliphant and other Liberal MPs The Hill Times spoke with earlier in the week say they are “comfortable” with the whipped vote, because as they were told at the start of the session, the Liberal caucus will have whipped votes on: Charter issues, platform issues, and confidence matters.

“Obviously it’s a Charter issue so I expect, and we’ve been told there are three things that will be whipped: Charter issues, platform issues, and confidence matters, and this is a Charter issue,” Mr. Oliphant said before the news broke on Friday, but later he expressed relief.

“So that takes this off the table for now and we can have that discussion later and we’ll be presenting a report in the House on Thursday,” said Mr. Oliphant. “My hope is that all MPs in the House and every party will see in the work that the committee has done and in the legislation that is presented, something they want to support.”

Mr. Oliphant wouldn’t comment on whether this was discussed in caucus, or speculate on why the Liberals backed off, but he said he wasn’t involved in any discussion about the whipped vote. He also said no one in the Liberal caucus has discussed with him the content of the report.

Mr. Oliphant told reporters last week that he is confident Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (Vancouver Granville, B.C.) will “pay attention to our, our report and will do her best to find a way to make sure that the law is balanced.”

The Joint House and Senate Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying is due to report back to the House with legislative recommendations by the end of this week, it was given a Feb. 26 deadline when the committee was struck in early December, but according to Mr. Oliphant, the report is now almost finalized and will be ready by Thursday, Feb. 25.

The government will then have to draft legislation, consider the committees findings, and table the bill in the House with enough time to have it pass through the House and Senate Justice committees and debate processes by the time the House is scheduled to rise.

“It’s kind of a funny conversation to have at this point because we don’t even have the legislation in front of us. I don’t personally have a problem with it,” Liberal MP and committee member Julie Dabrusin (Toronto-Danforth, Ont.) told The Hill Times before The Globe and Mail broke the news on Friday.

“I’m comfortable with it in the sense that in Parliament, the decision we’re going to be making is on the structure of the legislation coming out of the Supreme Court of Canada decision, which is a Charter decision,” Ms. Dabrusin said.

Both the Conservatives and NDP caucuses have been told it will be a free vote. The news that this wouldn’t be the case for the government members had opposition MPs questioning whether the government already has the legislation drafted.

“It’s very disappointing to hear that Dominic LeBlanc would come out and say the vote is whipped before even seeing the contents of this report. It really raises the question in my mind whether this entire exercise is a sham and that the government has legislation in its back pocket that it’s ready to go forward with regardless of what this committee does,” Conservative MP and member of the committee Michael Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton, Alta.) told The Hill Times.

“It raises the question of whether this was a genuine effort to reach a consensus or whether it was a forgone conclusion and nothing more than an exercise in public relations from the standpoint of the government and that would be very disappointing,” he said.

Liberal MP Sean Casey (Charlottetown, P.E.I.), parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice, was in attendance at most meetings, according to Mr. Cooper.

NDP MP and member of the committee Murray Rankin (Victoria, B.C.) told the committee he’s looking forward to seeing what the Liberals bring forward in terms of legislation.

“I’ll be looking to see if that legislation reflects the views of the committee, one hopes that all the work we’ve done has a value,” he said.

The committee began its study of the February 2015 Supreme Court decision regarding right-to-die legislation on Jan. 18 and heard from 61 witnesses over 15 meetings, as of the end of last week.

It’s expected the committee will meet again on Tuesday to finalize the draft report that it began work on Feb. 5. According to MPs, the report will be in the spirit of the Carter ruling, but will also have to address age, advance directives, including dementia, and psychological suffering. It will be in broad policy language and a “federal framework that looks at the Criminal Code and other issues,” Mr. Oliphant told The Hill Times.

The committee members The Hill Times spoke will all emphasized that their biggest challenge is finding an appropriate balance between patients’ rights, vulnerable people, and the conscience rights of physicians.

The committee had been given a mandate to consult broadly, taking into consideration existing research, and to review laws in other countries. The committee was granted permission to travel both within and outside Canada, however, that did not end up happening. Witnesses came to Ottawa, in most cases, and others video-conferenced.

The Hill Times 

To ALL Parliamentarians to help in your reflection: Last rites may be denied to Catholics seeking death, says archbishop

 Bloggers note: Hear the logic.

Last rites may be denied to Catholics seeking death, says archbishop   

By  Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News

   February 18, 2016   
 

 

OTTAWA - It would be inappropriate for a person intent on assisted suicide to request the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, said Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

“Asking your priest to be present to something that is in direct contradiction to our Catholic values is not fair to the pastor,” Prendergast said. “Of course a pastor will try and dissuade a patient from requesting suicide and will pray with them and their family, but asking him to be present is in effect asking him to condone a serious sin.”

A person who requests a lethal injection “lacks the proper disposition for the anointing of the sick,” he said.

“Asking to be killed is gravely disordered and is a rejection of the hope that the rite calls for and tries to bring into the situation.”

Prendergast said a priest should go when his presence is requested to pray for the person or to try to dissuade them from assisted suicide. But withholding the sacrament can be a pastoral way to help a patient realize the gravity of their decision.

“The rite is for people who are gravely ill or labour under the burden of years and it contains the forgiveness of sins as part of the rite, in either form,” he said. “But we cannot be forgiven pre-emptively for something we are going to do — like ask for assisted suicide when suicide is a grave sin.”

The Alberta bishops issued a statement Feb. 11, on the World Day of the Sick, that said participating in assisted-suicide is “morally wrong” and “no Catholic may advocate for, or participate in any way, whether by act or omission, in the intentional killing of another human being either by assisted suicide or euthanasia.”
The advent of legalized assisted-suicide means priests and hospital chaplains will inevitably face moral challenges.

“When someone asks for the presence of a priest, whatever the situation, you always say yes,” said Montreal Archbishop Christian Lépine.

Without speaking specifically about administering the sacraments, the archbishop said suicide is “a grave evil” and the focus “has to be to promote the sacred character of life from conception to natural death.”

He compared attending to a person intent on assisted suicide to seeing someone ready to jump to their death from a bridge and rushing to talk them out of it. “It’s the same thing with the terminally ill,” he said.

Hospital chaplains already face similar moral quandaries when dealing with abortion.

Catholic priests can only pray the person will “turn away from it,” Prendergast said.
 

Blame it on ‘cognitive dissonance’ Why the Liberals say one thing and do another.

Bloggers coment
we were duped 1.Union 's Campaigning against Harper 2, The mass media against Harper 3. the red book II platitudeform. 4. treachery https://www.google.ca/#q=treachery 5. Trudeau and company himself

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/andrew-coyne-why-the-liberals-say-one-thing-and-do-another-blame-it-on-cognitive-dissonance

Full Comment

Andrew Coyne: Why the Liberals say one thing and do another. Blame it on ‘cognitive dissonance’

Andrew Coyne | February 19, 2016 9:00 PM ET
More from Andrew Coyne | @acoyne

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldPrime Minister Justin Trudeau answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb.18, 2016.

If you missed it — perhaps you were shovelling the walk, or in the bath — the latest Liberal broken promise has arrived. This time the issue is the F-35 fighter jet. You may recall the Liberals vowed during the last election campaign to scrap the previous government’s controversial purchase, and start the process of finding a replacement for our aging CF-18s all over again.

Not only would the contract be put out to competitive tender, but the F-35 would be excluded from consideration — an important point of distinction with both the Conservatives, who seemed inclined to stick with the F-35, and the NDP, who favoured an open bidding process.

At any rate, that’s if you take the party platform at face value. Perhaps there is more than one way to interpret “we will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber.” A campaigning Justin Trudeau went so far as to claim this would save “tens of billions of dollars,” which is the amount you’d save if you didn’t buy any planes at all.

So add that to the list, along with the $10-billion deficits for two years, the balanced budget after four, the 25,000 refugees, the revenue neutral tax changes and the rest. I repeat, it has been just four months since the election.

But here we are four months later and the Defence minister has a somewhat different message. Asked at a defence conference this week if the F-35 were still off the table, Harjit Sajjan would say only that the process would be “open.” The important thing, he said, was to “build the right requirements for Canada and then we’ll see how that plays out in terms of which companies want to come forward.”

So add that to the list, along with the $10-billion deficits for two years, the balanced budget after four, the 25,000 refugees, the revenue neutral tax changes and the rest. I repeat, it has been just four months since the election.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickDefence Minister Harjit Sajjan, left to right, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion attend a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. 

The Liberal government announced Canada's contribution to the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. 

Some might detect a pattern of deception in this. But the more one watches this government at work, the more one must be open to an alternative explanation for its behaviour. Psychologists call it “cognitive dissonance,” a condition in which the subject, unable to reconcile his own understanding of reality with the facts, retreats into the preferred reality rather than endure the acute discomfort to which he would otherwise be exposed. In a fully dissociative state, the subject becomes more or less completely disconnected from reality.

This is more common than it might seem. Even after nine years in power, the government of Stephen Harper remained convinced it was still in opposition. 

Conservative ministers would rise in the Commons to denounce this policy or that practice of government, to all appearances wholly unaware they were members of it.

Or consider the fascinating case known to researchers of a 68-year-old woman, let’s call her HRC. Asked by an interviewer on national television whether she had ever lied to the American people, she replied “I don’t believe I ever have,” as if were possible to be in doubt whether you had deliberately told a falsehood. Asked if she had always told the truth, her reply was equally evasive: “I’ve always tried to.”

It is not that the dissociative personality says things he knows to be false or does things he knows to be in violation of his prior commitments. 

Rather, where there is a conflict between self-perception and reality, his subconscious simply substitutes the one for the other. HRC has an image of herself as an honest person. Presented with evidence she had not been, she could only incorporate it into her pre-existing image of herself. If she had lied, it was something she could not help.

I would not go so far as the distinguished therapist Evan Solomon, who in a recent issue of the Maclean’s Journal of Medicine diagnosed Justin Trudeau as a kind of psychopath, alternately charming (“the romantic”) and homicidal (“the killer”). I think in all likelihood he poses no danger to anyone but the economy. Still, a number of recent incidents give one pause.

Bill Graveland / Canadian PressA Canadian LAV (light armoured vehicle) arrives to escort a convoy at a forward operating base near Panjwaii, Afghanistan.

There is, for example, the matter of the Saudi arms contract. It is logically possible to be in favour of selling $15-billion worth of armoured vehicles to one of the world’s most repressive regimes — that would describe the Conservative position — as it is also possible to be against it, as the Liberals seemed to be in opposition. 

The party’s current position, on the other hand, as described by the Global Affairs Minister, Stephane Dion, is that it doesn’t approve of the contract it is in the process of implementing.


The reality is the contract could not proceed if the government were to find it in violation of Canada’s export rules — that is to say, by applying them — against supplying arms to countries with a “persistent record of serious violations” of human rights. But to let it go ahead anyway would offend against the Liberals’ self-image as peace-loving humanitarians. So it must be that, in the words of a former prime minster, they had no option.


Or consider this week’s vote in Parliament on a Conservative resolution condemning the “boycott, divest, sanctions” (BDS) campaigns against Israel being carried out by various churches and activist organizations. 

Here again the Liberals were clear in their opposition to the motion, which they rejected as overly sweeping, given the many disparate groups with disparate motives who are involved. And here again they voted for it. (“Liberals denounce and agree with Tory motion” was one headline.) It is one thing to say one thing and do another, in sequence. But to do both at the same time is deeply worrying.
Further examples are easily called to mind.

 Sending troops to fight in a “non-combat” role against ISIL. Signing the Trans Pacific Partnership international trade agreement, while disavowing any commitment to ratifying it. It is of great comfort, in the circumstances, to learn that the Liberals have been consulting an expert in “deliverology.” For this is a government that is plainly in need of professional help.

Who’s chairing Commons committees? The scorecard so far.

Who’s chairing Commons committees? The scorecard so far.: House of Commons committees are finally forming up for this 42nd Parliament. The 25 standing committees of the House and three Joint Committees (committees of MPs and senators) are where much of the real work of our federal politicians happens.Each [...]

Two Government Bills for your examination Bill C-4 & Bill C-5

 Bloggers note: Now why on earth would I bring this to your attention:


Bill C-4 among other things seek to undo what a previous government has democratically passed as good and transparent legislation to render Unions accountable. Bill C-4 will effectively render unions unaccountable.

But what bothers me the most is: To repeal the clause for transparency was an electoral promises made by the leader of the liberal party during the 2015 elections to buy the votes of unions leaders and to cause the NDP support to switch to the liberals in order to insure the defeat of the conservatives. Unions conspired and spend millions of dollars to defeat the Harper government. So it begs attention. These Bills will eventually get to committee and sent to the Senate for a sober second thought scrutiny ...stay tuned..


Bill C-5: repeals  the terms and conditions of employment related to the sick leave of employees who are employed in the core public administration.   

Here is what the  Federal government workers and sick leave  said  www.psacunion.ca/federal-government-workers-and-sick-leave-facts

And here are a few articles to the contrary employment related to the sick leave of employees   https://www.google.ca/#q=National+POST+employment+related+to+the+sick+leave+of+employees+
 

MORE ..The sick day scamCostly sick-day banks and chronic absenteeism. It’s time to rein in this public sector perk.         www.macleans.ca/politics/the-sick-day-scam/

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BILL C -4    An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act.
Info here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=8073132



Summary:

This enactment amends the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act to restore the procedures for the certification and the revocation of certification of bargaining agents that existed before June 16, 2015.
It also amends the Income Tax Act to remove from that Act the requirement that labour organizations and labour trusts provide annually to the Minister of National Revenue certain information returns containing specific information that would be made available to the public. Bloggers emphasis. Reporting not required (7) Subsection (3) does not require the reporting of (a) information, regarding disbursements and transactions of, or the value of investments held by, a labour trust (other than a trust described in paragraph (6)‍(b)), that is limited exclusively to the direct expenditures or transactions by the labour trust in respect of a plan, trust or policy described in paragraph (6)‍(b); (b) the address of a person in respect of whom paragraph (3)‍(b) applies; or (c) the name of a payer or payee in respect of a statement referred to in any of subparagraphs (3)‍(b)‍(i), (v), (ix), (xiii) to (xvi) and (xix). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill C-5  An Act to repeal Division 20 of Part 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1 Info here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=8082025  Summary: This enactment repeals Division 20 of Part 3 of the Economic Action Plan 2015 Act, No. 1, which authorizes the Treasury Board to establish and modify, despite the Public Service Labour Relations Act, terms and conditions of employment related to the sick leave of employees who are employed in the core public administration. Bloggers emphasis

Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying Feb. 3rd The catholic teaching expound

The catholic teaching expound


http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&DocId=8084555#Int-8779271

Hon. James S. Cowan (Senator, Nova Scotia, Lib.):

     Welcome to the witnesses, and thank you for your evidence.

    Your Eminence, I appreciate your faith-based opposition to physician-assisted dying, but that's not the issue before us. The court has made a decision and we're bound by that decision, and physician-assisted dying is a constitutional right for those eligible to access it. I appreciate the concerns that you've expressed about conscientious objectors and nobody being forced to participate. But it seems to me, and I'd ask for your comments, that what we're really looking at here is, we ought to be looking at it through the eyes of the affected patient. The rights and beliefs we might have have to be accommodated to meet those rights that the patient has.

 

     Perhaps you would wish that there is not going to be physician-assisted death in this country, but there is, so what particular, specific precautions should we be recommending be put in place to protect from abuse and protect the vulnerable? I think all of us would want to afford every protection to the vulnerable, but what specifically should we be recommending that would allow physician-assisted death to proceed, but at the same time provide appropriate protections for the vulnerable?

 

  (1740)  

[Expand]

 

Cardinal Thomas Collins:

     I'm certainly sure there are people—many around this table and around the country—who are very much committed to ensuring that physician-assisted suicide takes place. Obviously, after the Carter decision, this is the project of this committee.

    As I have made clear, I don't believe this is the direction the country should be going in. Far be it from me to suggest making it about should we have three doctors, two doctors, should we have one, should we do...? I don't believe it should happen, so I can't convince—

[Expand]

 

Hon. James S. Cowan:

    I understand that, Your Eminence, but that's not where we are.

[Expand]

 

Cardinal Thomas Collins:

    I'm sure other people will be doing that, but I don't believe in the thing itself. What I do believe is that the rights of conscience, of people who are constantly involved with compassionately caring for those most in need, need to be protected. I also believe that alternatives should be presented, funded very directly, and that would be palliative care.

While Parliament is preparing legislation ...Review of euthanasia in psychiatric patients raising 'serious concerns'

Review of euthanasia in psychiatric patients raising 'serious concerns'
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/review-of-euthanasia-in-psychiatric-patients-raising-serious-concerns-1.2772263

Marlene Leung and Michael Shulman, CTVNews.ca

Published Wednesday, February 10, 2016 11:40AM EST Last Updated Thursday, February 11, 2016 12:09AM EST

A new review of patients in the Netherlands is shedding light on the controversial practice of euthanasia or assisted suicide among patients with psychiatric disorders, as the practice is increasing in certain jurisdictions. The review comes at a time when the Canadian government is crafting new legislation to address euthanasia in this country.


The review, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, looked at 66 cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide (EAS) among patients with psychiatric disorders. The cases were from 2011 to 2014.


The new review found that in most of the 66 psychiatric EAS cases, the patients had chronic, severe conditions, with histories of attempted suicides or hospitalizations.


Dr. Scott Kim, the study's lead author, said the review is the first of its kind to provide a snapshot of how EAS cases are dealt with by physicians.


"For the first time, it provides a more fine-grained picture -- (rather) than mere quantitative data on reporting rates, etc. -- of what is happening when patients suffering from psychiatric disorders are euthanized or given lethal doses of medications for ingestion under the Dutch system," Kim, a psychiatrist and bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, told CTV News in an email.


EAS has been practised in the Netherlands for decades, however formal legislation was only enacted in 2002. Although the numbers remain small, psychiatric EAS is becoming more frequent, the review authors note.


The researchers who wrote the review cite a Dutch study from 1997 that estimated the number of psychiatric EAS cases was between two and five. In 2013, there were 42 reported psychiatric EAS cases, the authors say.


The review comes as the Canadian government crafts doctor-assisted death legislation. In January, the Supreme Court of Canada granted the federal government a four-month extension to come up with laws outlining assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada. It remains to be seen whether mental illness will be included in the criteria.


Doctor-assisted suicide is legal to varying degrees in five U.S. states. However, none make it available to those with mental illness.


Majority of patients had depressive disorders

The study found that most of the 66 patients had more than one psychiatric condition, and depressive disorders were the primary issue in 55 per cent of those cases.

Other conditions observed in the patients included psychosis (26 per cent), PTSD or anxiety (42 per cent), and cognitive impairment (6 per cent). Eating disorders, as well as prolonged grief and autism were also observed.

The review found that 41 per cent of the patients had a psychiatric history spanning between 11 and 30 years, and in 27 per cent of the patients, the history exceeded 30 years. It also found that 58 per cent of the patients had at least one other illness, including cancer, heart disease or diabetes.

In 56 per cent of the case reports, there was mention of the patients' social isolation or loneliness.

The researchers found the following characteristics among the 66 patients:

• 70 per cent were women;
• 52 per cent had attempted suicide;
• 80 per cent had been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons;

Treatment and refusal

The study noted that patients with difficult-to-treat depression had sought different types of therapy, including electroconvulsive therapy and deep brain stimulation.

However, in one EAS case, a woman in her 70s without health problems had decided, with her husband, that they would not live without each other. After her husband died, she lived a life described as a "living hell" that was "meaningless."

A consultant reported that this woman "did not feel depressed at all. She ate, drank and slept well. She followed the news and undertook activities."

The review found that 21 patients had been refused EAS at some point, but in three cases the physicians later changed their mind and performed EAS. The remaining 18 patients had physicians who were new to them perform EAS.

In 41 per cent of the cases the physician performing EAS was a psychiatrist, but in the rest of the cases it was usually a general practitioner, the review found.

Consultation with other doctors was "extensive, but in 11 per cent of the cases, there was no independent psychiatric input. In 24 per cent of the cases, there were disagreements among the physicians.
Kim said the difficulty arises from the fact that the Dutch system relies on physician judgement to implement "fairly broad and vague rules."

He said that while the assessment of most terminal illnesses does not involve a lot of "physician discretion," and doctors can be "fairly sure" what the eventual outcome for the patient will be, psychiatric conditions are less clear.

"Physicians must make tricky clinical determinations … without the help of a robust evidence base," said Kim.

"There is no evidence base to operationalize 'unbearable suffering,' there are no prospective studies of decision-making capacity in persons seeking EAS for psychiatric reasons, and the prognosis of patients labeled as 'treatment-resistant depression' varies considerably, depending on the population and the kind of treatments they receive."

The review comes just days after the family of a 37-year-old woman, who received doctor-assisted suicide in 2010, went public in an attempt to bring light to the issue.

According to Life Site News, Lotte and Sophie Nys said their daughter, Tine, told them on Christmas Eve in 2009 that she wanted to seek euthanasia. Tine's relationship with her boyfriend crumbled and, according to her parents, psychological issues from her youth resurfaced.

Her parents said that Tine Nys then "shopped around" for doctors, eventually finding one to perform the euthanasia, and two others, including a psychiatrist, to confirm that the criteria of the law had been met.

However, her parents said the doctors did not confer together about the state of their daughter's health and she received a new diagnosis -- that she had autism -- two months before her death, in order to justify the procedure.

The family said they have not received an answer as to why no new medical help was offered after the new diagnosis, and they have lodged a judicial complaint against the three doctors.

'Serious concerns'

A separate editorial says the review of the Dutch cases raises "serious concerns."
Dr. Paul Appelbaum, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, says there are particular concerns that come with the practice of EAS in psychiatric patients.

He notes that, in many such patients, a desire to die is often part of their disorder. As well, their response to treatment is less certain, meaning it's "much more difficult" for doctors to assess patients’ competence to decide to end their lives.

Appelbaum points to many troubling trends observed in the Dutch data, including the finding that 56 per cent of the cases included reports in which "social isolation or loneliness was important enough to be mentioned."

This "evokes the concern that (EAS) served as a substitute for effective psychosocial intervention and support," he said.
He also noted that it was also troubling that, in 12 per cent of cases, the "psychiatrist involved believed that the criteria for EAS were not met, but assisted death took place anyway."

There are several moral implications to consider as well, including the concern that psychiatrists may conclude from the legalization of EAS that it is acceptable to give up on treating some patients, he said.

Appelbaum noted, however, that it is important to keep in mind the limitation of the Dutch data.

In particular, the available sample did not reflect all cases involving psychiatric disorders. As well, the cases only included cases where EAS took place, which does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the effectiveness of the screening process.

Two options

Trudo Lemmens, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in bioethics, told CTV News that two main options are on the table in Canada.

The first proposal would rely on the assessment of a physician, with secondary verification coming from another physician.
However, Lemmens said this option leaves the door to potential "doctor shopping."

The second proposal, he says, has more "stringent criteria" and narrows down the availability of doctor-assisted suicide to solely those with "particular" medical issues, and would exclude those with conditions like autism.

Lemmens said it would also involve a second review, involving an "independent panel" to make sure the criteria are met.

"The second proposal is, in my view, superior and provides safeguards that the Belgian system doesn't have," said Lemmens.
Lemmens suggested that the issues with those systems could be remedied by having mental assessments done by more than one physician, and also forcing patients to go through a "cooling-off period to make sure they don't change their mind."

Tara Brousseau-Snider, executive direct of the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba, said she is concerned about the potential of Canada offering doctor-assisted suicide to those with mental illness.

She said a woman with severe depression came into the Winnipeg centre just months ago and told a counsellor that she wanted to end her life.

"I find this is very alarming, very worrisome because people, through different avenues, find a different way of life and nobody needs to sit with depression and be miserable all through their lives. There are options; there are supports available," said Brousseau-Snider.

With files from CTV News' Medical Correspondent Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip

Amazing new design of the official website of the Pope's trip to Mexico

Trudeau needs unions Trudeau needs unions Trudeau needs unions Trudeau needs unions Trudeau needs unions

Bloggers note: UNION PAY BACK ..FOR LIBERAL WIN OCT 2015...
The unions and the media Joined force to unseat the Harper Government.

If the repeal can be delayed just long enough for the unions to report only once ..then we would know what the liberal and the unions wanted to hide ..Transparency ( "Real Change" my eye Trudeau style)

Now its PayBack Trudeau time see  repeal articles..

https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=liberal%20gov%20repeal%20union%20bil

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Trudeau needs unions to achieve his ambitious climate agenda

In recent research, the International Labour Organization found that the world of work in industrialized countries like Canada produces 80 per cent of human-created greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why the transition to a green economy will require the transition of work: adapt work to mitigate the greenhouse gases produced by work itself.

By CARLA LIPSIG-MUMMé | 
Published: Monday, 02/01/2016 12:00 am EST

Prime Minister Trudeau has invited Canada’s unions to bring their expertise to one of his new government’s top priorities: climate change.

His request has a lot of people talking. He made the appeal at an historic meeting of last fall, the first time in more than 50 years that a sitting Prime Minister has attended the Canadian Labour Congress’ gathering of union leaders.

“Labour is not a problem, but a solution,” Trudeau said, signalling a clear departure from the previous Conservative government’s contemptuous attitude toward organized labour.

The Trudeau government is on the right track. In fact, labour’s involvement in efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change is not just helpful, it is essential.

In recent research, the International Labour Organization found that the world of work in industrialized countries like Canada produces 80 per cent of human-created greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why the transition to a green economy will require the transition of work: adapt work to mitigate the greenhouse gases produced by work itself.

During the last decade, when Canadian unions were seen as the problem rather than part of a solution, unions made some gains.

In Alberta, unionized workers and environmentalists found common cause in preventing the harm caused by the rapid expansion of the oilsands. They stood together and were arrested together in protests on Parliament Hill.

Similarly, auto workers lobbied unsuccessfully for the federal and Ontario government to encourage Ford to build its new, fuel-efficient engines in Windsor instead of Mexico. The union recognizes that future jobs in Canada depend on building vehicles that appeal to climate-conscious consumer, not gas-guzzlers that have limited appeal at home and little hope of success in export markets.

Canadian unions are now preparing for a ‘just transition’ from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy. The term, coined in Canada in the late 1990s was adopted worldwide. It puts the workforce front and centre in moving to low-carbon in the Canadian economy and describes a three-pronged shift.

First, unions use their expert knowledge to identify ways to reduce GHGs in the workplace.

Second, working actively with governments, unions negotiate how work is actually to be ‘greened’ in the private and public sectors.

Third, unions contribute to developing a nationwide campaign for environmental literacy, including green training for young workers and workers shifting to low-carbon production.

Financial provision is made for those workers whose industries become stranded assets. In the new, low-carbon economy, unions will be at the creative forefront in the struggle to slow global warming.

Just transition is also unfolding at the bargaining table as ‘climate bargaining.’ Workers generally know where, in their workplaces or supply chains, energy is wasted and how goods transportation could be made more efficient. Ordinary members in the whole range of workplaces—from universities to hospitals to mines to stores—have ideas about how to save energy. They want to help reorganize the workplace to make it more environmentally responsible.

‘Climate negotiators’ are beginning to be trained by their unions to include GHG

mitigation clauses in collective bargaining. Unions in a whole sector are beginning to develop ‘green plans’ with environment-conscious employers, setting joint GHG reduction targets, measuring GHG reduction annually, making sure that successes are widely known and borrowed.

Climate bargaining is growing rapidly. York University’s project on Adapting Canadian Work and Workplace to Respond to Climate Change has built a database of environmental clauses negotiated into union contracts. Its the first of its kind, and contains over 100 ‘green clauses found in collective agreements across the country. The database is queried frequently by climate negotiators looking for ways help improve their workplace through collective bargaining.

Can Canada’s unions help to build a green economy? The answer is yes, they can. But it will require policy-makers to work closely with workers’ organizations like the Canadian Labour Congress and its broad array of member unions such as CUPE, Unifor, the Postalworkers, United Steelworkers, Public Service Alliance of Canada, United Food and Commercial Workers, and others, to ensure that the false ‘jobs vs. environment’ argument does not derail efforts to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Following the Paris summit in 2015, CLC President Hassan Yussuff said, ‘The collaborative approach we saw in Paris must continue as Canada moves forward to meet and realize its commitments. Governments at every level, as well as business, labour and civil society organizations all have a responsibility to work together and act urgently and decisively to protect this planet’s future.’

Now is the right time for the government, employers and unions to achieve a just transition that brings about a green economy built on fairness and cooperation.

Carla Lipsig-Mummé is Professor of Work and Labour Studies at York University and Lead Researcher of the Adapting Canadian Work and Workplaces to Respond to Climate Change Research Group. 

carlalm@yorku.ca

The Hill Times 

MPs to keep a close eye on constituencies Parliamentarians beware

PM tells Grit MPs to keep a close eye on constituencies

By ABBAS RANA | 
Published: Monday, 02/01/2016 12:00 am EST

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told all rookie and veteran Liberal MPs at their first national caucus meeting on Nov. 5 that if they want to get re-elected, they should ensure they are approachable to their constituents and that their constituency offices deliver top-quality services.

“Because, we all understand—and those new Members have been clearly told by the Prime Minister—that constituency work is what gets us elected, helping people at the grassroots level and making sure we’re putting emphasis on that, as well as doing our responsibilities here [in Ottawa],” said Liberal MP Judy Sgro (Humber River-Black Creek, Ont.), who was first elected in a byelection in 1999 and re-elected in all six subsequent general elections

Being a good constituency MP has always been known to be the key to getting re-elected. However, the wild electoral swings in the 2011 and 2015 federal elections have made the electoral landscape more competitive. And MPs are talking even more about how important constituency work has become. 

In 2011, the NDP won the official opposition status and the Liberals were relegated to the third-place party, both firsts. In 2011, the Conservatives won a majority victory with 166 seats, the NDP won 103 seats, the Liberals 34 seats, Bloc Québécois four seats and the Green Party one seat.

 And in a dramatic reversal this past October, the Liberals won a majority government with 184 seats, the Conservatives went down to the official opposition with 99 seats, the NDP were reduced to 44 seats, Bloc Québécois moved up to 10 and the Green Party maintained its one seat.

 In this increasingly competitive political  environment, new and veteran MPs are ensuring they start preparing for the next election the day after the last one and they say constituency work is critical because it cements support and builds loyalty. 

“It’s got to be all about helping people. If you didn’t run for election with that in mind, you’re going to have difficulty. That’s where the votes come from,” Ms. Sgro said, adding that she has a good reputation in her riding as being helpful.

“People don’t forget that you helped bring the brother [from overseas] for a funeral or sister for a wedding or helped get the family here. People stay very loyal to you,” Ms. Sgro said.

 Good MPs can work seven-days-a-week and are on 24/7. It’s not unusual for MPs to put in more than 60 or 70 hours each week. MPs said their constituents contact them by email, letter, phone, and walk-ins. Constituents mostly need help with immigration issues and passports, but MPs can deal with everything under the sun including child custody issues, divorces, housing, pensions, health care and veterans issues, among many other issues. 

For MPs representing urban ridings, more than half of their constituency work is often related to immigration issues. In most cases, MPs hire two to three staffers in their constituency offices and usually one works exclusively on immigration-related files. 

MPs usually make themselves available at least one day a week in their constituency offices so that constituents can meet them in person. In the days when MPs are in their ridings, they also attend community events.   

“That’s where it all happens,” said Ms. Sgro. “The work happens right out there in the ridings, listening to people, listening to what the concerns are and then trying to fix them.”

Eight-term Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.) told The Hill Times that MPs who don’t serve their constituents properly after getting elected don’t last long in office. He said that his home phone is listed in the local phone book and Islanders sometimes call him at home.

“Never, ever, ever forget where you came from. The issues that are on the ground that are important in your ridings, those issues are the lifeblood of those people affected,” said Mr. Easter, who was first elected in 1993 and has been re-elected in seven subsequent elections. 

Mr. Easter said that even if the MPs are not successful in helping their constituents, people still appreciate that they tried. 

Rookie Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) said MPs are responsible for helping out their constituents, regardless of whether they get elected in the next election or not. He said that sometimes MPs who do good work in their ridings lose elections, especially if there’s a political wave like the one the Liberals rode to victory in the last election. Mr. Ouellette defeated former six-term NDP MP Pat Martin in the last election by a margin of 26.5 per cent of the vote.

“You’ve taken on a responsibility and you can help people out, so you might as well make a difference in people’s lives, just for that one simple reason,” said Mr. Ouellette. 

Rookie NDP MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood-Transcona, Man.)—son of former veteran NDP MP Bill Blaikie who served in Parliament from 1979 to 2008—said constituency work helps MPs learn first-hand which government programs work and which ones do not. Constituency work teaches MPs the key flaws in government programs and helps them come up with concrete practical solutions.

“If you are going to be criticizing government on how programs are working or not working, actually, getting to see it by working with people who are the targets of those programs or who are eligible for those programs or who aren’t, gives you a first-hand experience with what those programs look like on the ground, rather than just on paper,” said Mr. Blaikie. “You get a sense of what the issues are that people are grappling with.” 

Mr. Blaikie won the riding by beating Conservative incumbent Lawrence Toet by only 61 votes. 

“It’s always important to be a good constituency MP. I don’t think it’s more important for me than it otherwise would have been if the margin had been 1,500 votes [or more]. I would be just as concerned to make sure I’m doing that [constituency] work well.”

arana@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times