By Deborah Gyapong

OTTAWA (CCN) -- Opponents of assisted-suicide and euthanasia bill C-384 are expressing hope that it will be defeated if it comes to a vote this fall.

"I'm quite confident that the vote's actually going to go the right way," said Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, who chairs the Parliamentary Pro-life Caucus. "On this one, there's clear lack of support in our party."

Bruinooge predicted many Liberals would also vote against the bill, as well as some in the New Democratic Party. Most of the support for Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde's private member's bill will come from within her own caucus, he said.

Private member's bills, especially those dealing with conscience issues, are free votes, though the Justice Minister and opposition justice critics may recommend a position.

"The government has not taken a position on Bill C-384 at this time," said a statement from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's press secretary Pamela Stephens. "Euthanasia and assisted suicide raise complex ethical, legal and medical issues, and many of them involve competing interests. We have no plans to propose any reforms to this area of the law," she said. Assisted suicide and euthanasia remain Criminal Code offences.

NDP justice critic MP Joe Comartin said he is going to recommend his caucus vote against the bill. "I don't want this issue dealt with in amendments to the Criminal Code," he said.

Comartin said Canada needs to establish a cross-country network of good palliative and hospice care, including training in cutting-edge pain management techniques for frontline doctors. Otherwise, there is no real choice when someone is offered either intractable pain or assisted suicide. He pointed to the excellent palliative and hospice care in his Windsor riding and noted that when this is in place, the issue of assisted suicide does not come up.

However, Comartin said he doubts there will be unanimity in the NDP caucus. "It is an emotional issue," he said. "Clearly, all parties would have division on it."

Liberal MP John McKay said he did not expect the Liberal Party to support the bill. "This is a very deeply-held and profoundly important area of respect for life," he said. "I think there's a lot of caution to be exercised in this area."

But McKay doubted the bill would make it through this parliament. Bill C-384 is scheduled for its first hour of debate in late September or early October. Its second hour of debate and a vote would not happen until November or early December. If the bill passes second reading, it must go to committee, then back to the House, and then on to the Senate -- thus pushing its passage well into the spring.

Canada's Catholic bishops, the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF), the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) and other groups mounted a campaign over the summer, urging Canadians to contact their MPs. That campaign has been successful, according to EPC executive director Alex Schadenberg who has urged the defeat of Lalonde's bill on second reading. He predicted at least 155 MPs would vote against it, and said the numbers could go past 160.

"I'm cautious, obviously, because you never know before the final vote is taken," he said, noting MPs appear to be hearing from their constituents about concern for people with disabilities and the vulnerable elderly and chronically ill, and the lack of effective end-of-life care in Canada.

Schadenberg differed from activists who had expressed hope that an election would kill the bill. "I'm actually wanting to defeat this bill," he said. "I don't want us to say, 'Thank God, we missed out because an election was called.' We need to have Members of Parliament send a strong message that this is not the way Canada should be going."

Asked to speculate whether euthanasia could hypothetically become an election issue, Bruinooge said: "Overall, the issue probably hasn't been raised to the prominence that I think it would need to become an election issue. If there was a vote that would have occurred in advance of an election, I could see it being more of an object of discussion."

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He added: "If it falls off the order paper, it falls off the radar as well. I think, overall, for voters that have members that have taken a hard line position on it, it could become an issue that could affect swing voters in their ridings."

McKay said he doubted Canada would have the "absurd health care debate in the United States," concerning so-called "death panels" that former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warned about. "The U.S. paranoid crowd has jumped on this one." But passage of a euthanasia bill could feed the concern that the health care system is going to kill you, he admitted.

Because Lalonde's bill is not a government bill, Schadenberg said it was unlikely to become an election issue. He urged caution because a segment of the intellectual elite, with access to the media, are pushing euthanasia. "We cannot let our guard down," he cautioned, adding: "Anything can change . . . Politics is like that."

Polls show most Canadians are divided on euthanasia and assisted suicide, and have understandable fears about end-of-life suffering, said Schadenberg, noting their priority is better end of life care.

-- Courtesy of Canadian Catholic News. Please do not reprint without permission.

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September 24/2009