Canadian Parliament Attempts To Legalize Euthanasia (Bill C-384)
Bill C-384 Defeated: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (right to die with dignity)
On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, this attempt to legalize euthanasia in Canada was defeated in Canada Parliament by a large majority (75%). Francine Lelonde of the Bloc Party started this campaign to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2005. Due to the call of two elections since that time this Bill was finally dealt with on April 21. Though this means an end to this attempt for now, we must remain vigilant as it's likely that a similar Bill will be introduced once again after the next Federal election.
Thank you to all those individuals, bishops, and pastors who stood firmly against Bill C-384. And a special thank you to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for its dedicated work to ensure defeat of this legislation.
The following are the voting results on defeated Bill C-384:
1. How the parties voted:
| Conservative | Yea: 2 | Nay: 137 | N/A: 5 |
| Bloc | Yea: 43 | Nay: 2 | N/A: 3 |
| NDP | Yea: 5 | Nay: 30 | N/A: 2 |
| Liberal | Yea: 8 | Nay: 59 | N/A: 10 |
| Independent | Yea: 1 | Nay: 0 | N/A: 1 |
| Totals | Yea: 59 | Nay: 228 | N/A: 21 |
| % | Yea: 19.1% | Nay: 74.0% | N/A: 6.8% |
2. How Members of Parliament voted:
See: http://openparliament.ca/bills/votes/912/
For further information on the issue of euthanasia, please see Euthanasia Facts
