Opposed to the medical aid in dying law in 2014, independent MNA for Chomedey Guy Ouellette is now ready to vote for its expansion to unfit people.
He told the Canadian Press that he is adding his voice to those urging Francois Legault's CAQ government to table a bill before the end of the session.
At the time, in 2014, Guy Ouellette was among the 22 Liberal MNAs who voted against the End-of-Life Care Act in what was deemed a free vote in the National Assembly.
He said that the opposition to the law in his Laval riding was so strong that he had no choice but to do so, even though he personally was quite in favour, having seen his own parents suffer at the end of life.
His constituents "had petitions signed (...) that were brought to my riding office," he said, recalling a tumultuous period when people did not hesitate to tell him they disagreed.
"Today, I don't hear any criticism in my riding," he said.
Ouellette believes that the "extraordinary progress" he has witnessed in his riding of Chomedey is a reflection of what has happened throughout Quebec in recent years.
"The respect with which the law has been used for the past seven-eight years has meant that it hasn't been a free-for-all or a massacre as some may have feared," he said. "People were afraid that because we had medical aid in dying, it would happen under any circumstances, for any reason, in any way; (...) it didn't happen. There have been no abuses."
He sat all last year on the special commission on the extension of medical aid in dying with deputies from other political parties.
After hearing from a multitude of experts, the commission recommended that the government allow people suffering from Alzheimer's, for example, to sign an advance request for medical assistance in dying.
The current law sets very strict criteria for requesting a doctor to shorten suffering. At the moment, in Quebec, one must be capable of consenting at the time of obtaining medical assistance in dying, with some exceptions.
As MNAs Véronique Hivon (PQ), Vincent Marissal (QS) and David Birnbaum (PLQ) have done previously, Ouellette is calling on Health Minister Christian Dubé to think about the "well-being of society."
"The population has reached that point," he said.
Dubé has tabled three bills in recent weeks, as well as a plan to reorganize the health care system. There are seven weeks of parliamentary work left before the Oct. 3 vote.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 10, 2022.
