Minister, you appeared in front of our Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in early May as we began our pre-study of Bill C-14. Your government wanted our legal committee to conduct this pre-study to accommodate the very tight time frame set forth by the Supreme Court of Canada. Our Senate Legal Committee's pre- study heard from 66 witnesses and took 20 hours of committee study. We concluded with 10 recommendations for amendment of Bill C-14, five of which were even unanimously agreed to by our Senate Legal Committee, a committee which contains Conservatives, Liberals and one independent.

And by the way, minister, advance directives was definitely not one of those unanimously agreed to. I suggest you have another look at that report.

We gave you the study 15 days ago, and during those 15 days your government has done nothing with those recommendations. You did not incorporate any of the changes, even those unanimously agreed to, in the bill that you sent to us last night. And you had the time to incorporate those changes and send us a better bill after the kerfuffle in the House of Commons two weeks ago which delayed the progress of this bill.

Minister, this is what your colleague Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc told our Senate Rules Committee when he appeared in front of us in February.

I want to say this also to colleagues and senators. As your committees look at legislation, when you make amendments to government bills, in the interests of strengthening or improving those pieces of legislation, our colleagues in cabinet have been told to consider positively those amendments. We do not see the Senate amending a government bill to improve it, fix it or strengthen it as a defeat, a problem or a crisis. We see it as proof positive that the institution is fulfilling its important role. We look forward as ministers to working with your committees on legislation, when it arrives here.

Minister, why has your government ignored every single recommendation made in our Senate Legal Committee's report instead of allowing us to fulfill our important role in strengthening this crucial piece of legislation?

Ms. Wilson-Raybould: Thank you, Senator Batters, for the question and reflections on the Government House Leader's comments. At the outset, I will say that this is not ideal in terms of the time frame that we're under and the recognition that you received Bill C-14 very late.

I will say that we have considered the pre-study and the recommendations and recognize that there may be recommendations in terms of amendments that are put forward in this house throughout the process that you're undertaking.

We have considered many of the additional safeguards that have been recommended by the pre-study and other matters that you quite rightfully say that weren't unanimous that came out of the pre-study. And many of the reflections were considered in the other place in terms of making amendments.

But again, we are open to amendments and recognize that the legislation that we have put forward is what we believe to be, in terms of its objectives, a balanced approach to these issues that balance the necessary safeguards that were reflected in a lot of the recommendations or the increased ask for safeguards, as well as protection of individual autonomy. And we want to ensure that we keep that balance.

Senator Batters: Minister, the purpose of a pre-study is to work to save time in the legislative process. So that's why our committee provided you with those 10 amendment recommendations, so that you could amend Bill C-14 to strengthen it even before it left the House of Commons.

Our Senate Legal Committee does not often do pre-studies of legislation. One recent example was when the Conservative government asked our Legal Committee to do a pre-study of the Fair Elections Act because of the tight legislative time frame with that.

Our Legal Committee conducted that Fair Elections Act pre- study, concluding with several recommendations, and the Conservative government then took many of the Senate recommendations, worked them into the bill which was still before the House of Commons, and then sent an improved bill to the Senate.

So, minister, why don't you follow that Conservative government's lead in how a Senate committee's pre-study should be used to strengthen and improve legislation?

Ms. Wilson-Raybould: I appreciate the comments, senator, and without reservation I recognize the important work that committees undertake, including the committee that you reference. We very carefully considered the recommendations in the pre-study, as we will very carefully consider any recommendations that come out of the process that you're undertaking now as senators.

I witnessed and participated in the discussions at committee in the other place and recognized that voting on Bill C-14 yesterday there presented different parties and individuals in different parties voting in favour of Bill C-14 and voting on specific amendments that were being put forward not in a consistent way, necessarily, but in a way that reflects the diversity of opinions that exist around specific amendments, whether we're talking about safeguards or broadening the regime. Again, we're seeking to ensure that that balance is there and that we achieve balance in putting forward the most appropriate regime that we can in terms of medical assistance in dying.

Senator Batters: Minister, when you appeared in front of our Senate committee at the Bill C-14 pre-study, I asked you why the Liberal government had chosen not to require terminal illness and end of life to access assisted suicide.

Minister, polling by national firms and by the external panel shows that Canadians expect terminal illness and end of life to be requirements to access assisted suicide. There are only nine jurisdictions, as you referred to, in the entire world that allow assisted suicide, and six of those jurisdictions require terminal illness and end of life. Those jurisdictions that require terminal illness and end of life include Quebec and a few U.S. states that allow assisted suicide.

When you answered my question that day in early May, you did not tell me that requiring terminal illness and end of life would contravene the Carter decision or would contravene the Canadian Charter of Rights. Minister, I later learned why you didn't say any of those things is because in the same time frame you were testifying before our Senate Legal committee's pre-study, your federal justice lawyers were arguing before the Alberta Court of Appeal that terminal illness is required by the Carter decision.

So minister, why don't you agree to amend Bill C-14 in accordance with our Senate Legal Committee's recommendation to require terminal illness and end of life? That's what Canadians expect.

Ms. Wilson-Raybould: I would disagree with the assertion that Bill C-14 is not compliant with Carter and not compliant with the Charter. I deem it to be compliant with both, and what we have sought to do in Bill C-14 is to provide medical assistance in dying for individuals that are approaching the end of their lives, to provide a peaceful passage to death. This is what the Supreme Court of Canada spoke about in the Carter decision. This is the regime in Bill C-14 that we're putting forward to ensure that we maintain our objectives of protecting personal autonomy to make such decisions while protecting the vulnerable and ensuring that we maintain a value for life and that we ensure that suicide prevention is also another objective that we keep top of mind.