By Ray Cardello for June 7, 2023, Season 20 / Post 3

MAID in Canada is an acronym for Medical Assistance in Dying. It states that a person is not guilty of a criminal offense if they provide or assist in providing MAID according to the conditions and safeguards in the law. The Canadian Government created the MAID program in 2016. That is a lot of verbiages to describe a program that saves money by offering people, especially veterans, an option for expensive long-term care-Death. The Canadian Government created the MAID Practice Standards Task Group to create a Model Practice Standard for medical assistance in dying to support a safe and consistent approach to MAID across the country.

There are many examples of how humane euthanasia can be to older adults suffering from painful diseases without hope of reversing the malady. We may know of people in our families suffering without hope of the pain passing. They have suffered enough and want the pain to end and to end their lives peacefully. That is entirely different than taking someone in their mid-life who suffered a life-altering injury in battle, needs support, and to save money is offered medically assisted suicide as an option. 

A paraplegic former Canadian military member is ripping her Government, which offered to euthanize her after she complained about delays in having a wheelchair lift installed in her home.

Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, who competed for Canada at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, testified in Parliament that a Veterans Affairs Canada caseworker offered the opportunity for a medically assisted death – and even to provide the equipment, according to the CBC.

“I have a letter saying that if you’re so desperate, madam, we can offer you MAID, medical assistance in dying,” said Gauthier, who injured her back during a 1989 training accident.

As many as five veterans may have been offered euthanasia equipment by a veterans affairs official, said Veterans Minister Lawrence MacAulay in testimony before the committee last week. Those cases have been referred to the police. MacAulay said all of the instances involved one employee, who has been suspended.

After 40,000 Canadians have chosen death under the MAID Program since its inception, Canadians are waking up to the horrors of this government option for healthcare. That new thinking is not stopping the Trudeau-led Government that is actually expanding the program’s reach. Trudeau and his party felt the program was too restrictive. Until now, only physical maladies have qualified people to choose death, but now people living with mental illness can choose euthanasia. How does one determine if someone suffering from mental illness has the state of mind necessary to opt for death? Add mental illness to the list of MAID qualifiers; Homeless, Poor, Disabled, Newborn Infants, and Mature Children. A state-approved doctor signed off on a depressed teen who wanted to die because he did not have a girlfriend. The parent’s consent is not required for “Mature Children” to choose suicide under the MAID Program. The moral questions here are unlimited. But whether it is abortion up to or beyond the point of birth or allowing Government assisted suicide, the Liberals are showing that sound morals are not required for leadership. Maybe the Liberals have finally gone too far, which is why millennials are moving to the Right. That is good political news for the Right, but it is even better for society. Maybe we can save this world from self-extinction.