News
What you need to know about Canada’s expansion of medically assisted dying
|
|
Debate over medical assistance in dying is heating up as a deadline approaches to expand the program to people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.
The Liberal government has promised to delay the expansion, which is set for March 17, but has not said how long the delay may be.
Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs Canada has been under scrutiny after reports that a case manager, who no longer works for the department, discussed medically assisted dying with former Armed Forces members who sought help from the department.
All of this has put medically assisted dying high on the political agenda. Here’s what you need to know about how it became legal, why it’s expanding and who can access it in Canada.
When and how did medical assistance in dying become legal?
Medically assisted death became legal in Canada in 2016 following a Supreme Court decision that found certain sections of the Criminal Code that made it a crime to help a person end their life violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The unanimous ruling, known as the Carter decision, in early 2015 called it a “cruel” choice to deny people “who are grievously and irremediably ill” a physician’s assistance in dying.
Legislation passed the following year created an assisted-dying regime that limited eligibility to adults who were suffering from a long-term illness and whose natural death was “reasonably foreseeable.”
Why is the program being expanded?
A Quebec Superior Court ruled in 2019 that it was unconstitutional to restrict eligibility to people whose deaths are reasonably foreseeable.
The law was challenged by Jean Truchon, who had cerebral palsy before being diagnosed with another ailment in 2012 that paralyzed his one functioning arm. He applied for an assisted death and met all of the criteria except for a reasonably foreseeable natural death.
The federal government chose not to appeal that ruling to the Supreme Court, which some critics said it ought to do.
Instead, Parliament sought to update and expand the assisted-dying regime.
During debate over the bill to expand access, Sen. Stan Kutcher, a psychiatrist who sits with the Independent Senators Group, argued excluding people with mental illness from the assisted-dying program would be unconstitutional and violate the right to equal treatment under the law, as guaranteed in the Charter.
Senators voted in favour of his amendment to give the federal government 18 months to expand the program to people suffering solely from mental illnesses. The Trudeau government, which had originally intended for mental illness to be excluded, ended up agreeing but lengthened the delay to two years. The “sunset clause” in the law was meant to allow for more time to study the expansion of the regime to include people whose sole underlying condition is a mental disorder.
An expert panel was convened and it concluded that the proper safeguards are in place for the expansion to take place in March.
Why is there a delay?
Justice Minister David Lametti announced in mid-December that the government will seek to delay the expansion when the House of Commons resumes sitting at the end of the month.
It would need to pass legislation to amend the sunset clause under the current law, with Lametti saying that he believed other parties and senators would support such a bill.
Lametti said the government had heard concerns the health-care system might not be prepared to handle these “more complex” cases.
“That includes having the time to implement those practice standards, and to complete and disseminate key resources that are being developed for clinicians and other health-care system partners,” he said Dec. 15.
Who is eligible for assisted dying today?
To receive a medically assisted death, a person must have a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability in an advanced state of irreversible decline. According to federal guidelines, the person has to be enduring intolerable pain or psychological suffering.
Patients whose natural death is not “reasonably foreseeable” must be informed of what options are available to them, including counselling, mental health or disability supports, community services and palliative care. Patients are also required to consult and discuss other potential treatments with their medical practitioner.
They also must be at least 18 years old, have decision-making capacity and make the request voluntary, without external pressure.
Who will be eligible when the program expands?
People suffering from mental disorders who have other underlying conditions may already be eligible for assisted dying. The expansion specifically includes people who only have a mental disorder.
That will make Canada one of a handful of countries where someone who is suffering from a mental disorder and whose natural death is not foreseeable will be able to receive a medically assisted death.
How does the process work?
First, people have to make a request for medically assisted death in writing and have it signed by an independent witness.
Then, two medical professionals must independently do an assessment and ensure the person is eligible. Consent has to be given throughout the process. If assessors determine a person is eligible, a date of death is determined.
If natural death is “reasonably foreseeable,” the patient can proceed when they are ready. If not, then an additional assessment period of at least 90 days generally takes place. An assisted death can be administered by heath-care professionals or self-administered under their supervision.
How many people have chosen a medically assisted death?
More than 31,000 people chose an assisted death in the first five years after it became legal.
That includes just over 10,000 people in 2021, a 32.4 per cent increase from the year before.
Medically assisted deaths accounted for 3.3 per cent of all deaths in Canada in 2021.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2023.
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
News
Capital gains tax change draws ire from some Canadian entrepreneurs worried it will worsen brain drain – CBC.ca
A chorus of Canadian entrepreneurs and investors is blasting the federal government’s budget for expanding a tax on the rich. They say it will lead to brain drain and further degrade Canada’s already poor productivity.
In the 2024 budget unveiled Tuesday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government would increase the inclusion rate of the capital gains tax from 50 per cent to 67 per cent for businesses and trusts, generating an estimated $19 billion in new revenue.
Capital gains are the profits that individuals or businesses make from selling an asset — like a stock or a second home. Individuals are subject to the new changes on any profits over $250,000.
The government estimates that the changes would impact 40,000 individuals (or 0.13 per cent of Canadians in any given year) and 307,000 companies in Canada.
However, some members of the business community say that expanding the taxable amount will devastate productivity, investment and entrepreneurship in Canada, and might even compel some of the country’s talent and startups to take their business elsewhere.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the government’s 2024 federal budget, with spending targeted at young voters and a plan to raise capital gains taxes for some of the wealthiest Canadians.
Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), said the capital gains tax has overshadowed parts of the federal budget that the business community would otherwise be excited about.
“There were definitely some other stars in the budget that were interesting,” he said. “However, the … capital gains piece really is the sun, and it’s daylight. So this is really the only thing that innovators can see.”
The CCI has written and is circulating an open letter signed by more than 1,000 people in the Canadian business community to Trudeau’s government asking it to scrap the tax change.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and president Harley Finkelstein also weighed in on the proposed hike on X, formerly known as Twitter.
We need to be doing everything we can to turn Canada into the best place for entrepreneurs to build 🇨🇦<br><br>What’s proposed in the federal budget will do the complete opposite. Innovators and entrepreneurs will suffer and their success will be penalized — this is not a wealth tax,…
—@harleyf
Former finance minister Bill Morneau said his successor’s budget disincentivizes businesses from investing in the country’s innovation sector: “It’s probably very troubling for many investors.”
Canada’s productivity — a measure that compares economic output to hours worked — has been relatively poor for decades. It underperforms against the OECD average and against several other G7 countries, including the U.S., Germany, U.K. and Japan, on the measure.
Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers sounded the alarm on Canada’s lagging productivity in a speech last month, saying the country’s need to increase the rate had reached emergency levels, following one of the weakest years for the economy in recent memory.
The government said it was proposing the tax change to make life more affordable for younger generations and fund efforts to boost housing supply — and that it would support productivity growth.
A challenge for investors, founders and workers
The change could have a chilling effect for several reasons, with companies already struggling to access funding in a high interest rate environment, said Bergen.
He questioned whether investors will want to fund Canadian companies if the government’s taxation policies make it difficult for those firms to grow — and whether founders might just pack up.
The expanded inclusion rate “is just one of the other potential concerns that firms are going to have as they’re looking to grow their companies.”
He said the rejigged tax is also an affront to high-skilled workers from low-innovation sectors who might have taken the risk of joining a startup for the opportunity, even taking a lower wage on the chance that a firm’s stock options grow in value.
But Lindsay Tedds, an associate economics professor at the University of Calgary, said the tax change is one of the most misunderstood parts of the federal budget — and that its impact on the country’s talent has been overstated.
“This is not a major innovation-biting tax change treatment,” Tedds said. “In fact, when you talk to real grassroots entrepreneurs that are setting up businesses, tax rates do not come into their decision.”
As for productivity, Tedds said Canadians might see improvements in the long run “to the degree that some of our productivity problems are driven by stresses like housing affordability, access to child care, things like that.”
‘One foot on the gas, one foot on the brake’
Some say the government is sending mixed messages to entrepreneurs by touting tailored tax breaks — like the Canada Entrepreneurs’ Incentive, which reduces the capital gains inclusion rate to 33 per cent on a lifetime maximum of $2 million — while introducing measures they say would dampen investment and innovation.
“They seem to have one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake on the very same file,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Some business groups are worried that new capital gains tax changes could hurt economic growth. But according to Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez, most Canadians won’t be impacted by that change — and it’s a move to create fairness.
A founder may be able to sell their successful company with a lower capital gains treatment than otherwise possible, he said.
“At the same time, though, big chunks of it may be subject to a higher rate of capital gains inclusion.”
Selling a company can fund an individual’s retirement, he said, which is why it’s one of the first things founders consider when they think about capital gains.
Mainstreet NS7:03Ottawa is proposing a hike to capital gains tax. What does that mean?
Tuesday’s federal budget includes nearly $53 billion in new spending over the next five years with a clear focus on affordability and housing. To help pay for some of that new spending, Ottawa is proposing a hike to the capital gains tax. Moshe Lander, an economics lecturer at Concordia University, joins host Jeff Douglas to explain.
Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, says he was disappointed by the change — and that it sends the wrong message to Canadian industries like his own.
He wants to see the government commit to more tax credit proposals like the Canada Carbon Rebate for Small Businesses, which he said would incentivize business owners to stay and help make Canada competitive with the U.S.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties attracting investment over the years. I don’t think this will make it any better.”
Tech titan says change will only impact richest of the rich
Toronto tech entrepreneur Ali Asaria will be one of those subject to the expanded capital gains inclusion rate — but he says it’s only fair.
“It’s going to really affect the richest of the rich people,” Asaria, CEO of open source platform Transformer Lab and founder of well.ca, told CBC News.
“The capital gains exemption is probably the largest tax break that I’ve ever received in my life,” he said. “So I know a lot about what that benefit can look like, but I’ve also always felt like it was probably one of the most unfair parts of the tax code today.”
While Asaria said Canada needs to continue encouraging talent to take risks and build companies in the country, taxation policies aren’t the most major problem.
“I think that the biggest central issue to the reason why people will leave Canada is bigger issues, like housing,” he said.
“How do we make it easier to live in Canada so that we can all invest in ourselves and invest in our companies? That’s a more important question than, ‘How do we help the top 0.13 per cent of Canadians make more money?'”
More money will land in the pockets of Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit (CCB) installment.
The federal government program helps low and middle-income families struggling with the soaring cost of raising a child.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees who are the primary caregivers for children under 18 years old are eligible for the program, introduced in 2016.
The non-taxable monthly payments are based on a family’s net income and how many children they have. Families that have an adjusted net income under $34,863 will receive the maximum amount per child.
For a child under six years old, an applicant can annually receive up to $7,437 per child, and up to $6,275 per child for kids between the ages of six through 17.
That translates to up to $619.75 per month for the younger cohort and $522.91 per month for the older group.
The benefit is recalculated every July and most recently increased 6.3 per cent in order to adjust to the rate of inflation, and cost of living.
To apply, an applicant can submit through a child’s birth registration, complete an online form or mail in an application to a tax centre.
The next payment date will take place on May 17.
NHL Playoffs 2024: Picks for every first-round series, predicting the Stanley Cup winner – CBS Sports
BWXT announces $80M investment for plant in Cambridge – CityNews Kitchener
Bobby Kennedy And The Ownership Economy – Forbes
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Media17 hours ago
DJT Stock Rises. Trump Media CEO Alleges Potential Market Manipulation. – Barron's
-
Media19 hours ago
Trump Media alerts Nasdaq to potential market manipulation from 'naked' short selling of DJT stock – CNBC
-
Investment17 hours agoPrivate equity gears up for potential National Football League investments – Financial Times
-
Sports22 hours ago
2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs 1st-round schedule – NHL.com
-
News16 hours ago
Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday | CTV News – CTV News Toronto
-
Real eState9 hours ago
Botched home sale costs Winnipeg man his right to sell real estate in Manitoba – CBC.ca
-
Business18 hours ago
Gas prices see 'largest single-day jump since early 2022': En-Pro International – Yahoo Canada Finance
-
Art21 hours ago
Enter the uncanny valley: New exhibition mixes AI and art photography – Euronews
