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Decentralized Democracy

Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council

Michael Cooper

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of the Joint Interparliamentary Council
  • Conservative
  • St. Albert—Edmonton
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 68%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $119,185.60

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 283 - Feb/15/24
Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)
  • Feb/15/24 12:35:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I served on the special joint committee on MAID, and the overwhelming evidence from experts, including leading psychiatrists, is that there are fundamental political problems with MAID in cases where mental illness is the sole underlying condition. This includes the difficulty in predicting irremediability and in distinguishing a request that is rational from one motivated by suicidal ideation. What evidence can the member cite to indicate that these fundamental political problems will be resolved in three short years?
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Context: House Hansard - 281 - Feb/13/24
Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)
  • Feb/13/24 5:01:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is absolutely disgusting that the parliamentary secretary to the government House leader would stick his head in the sand and deny well-documented cases of abuse and non-compliance with respect to so-called safeguards that are supposedly in place and are to be enforced. It is just disgusting, when speaking of some of the most vulnerable persons in Canadian society. With respect to the member and her speech, she talked about Conservative obstruction. I would remind her that every member of Parliament, from all recognized parties, on the committee, which I served in, said to put a pause on this expansion, so did chairs of psychiatry, and so did the Province of Quebec in the national assembly, when the committee determined that mental illness as a sole underlying condition was not appropriate in the context of MAID. I will tell members that when I hear evidence that clinicians could get it wrong 50% of the time, in other words like the flip of a coin, I will obstruct that expansion.
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Context: House Hansard - 280 - Feb/12/24
Mr. Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton, CPC)
  • Feb/12/24 12:40:48 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-7 
Madam Speaker, the decision to expand MAID in the case of mental illness was not a decision of the courts. It was a political decision made by the Liberals. That is evidenced by the fact that the government's initial legislative response, Bill C-7, expressly excluded MAID for mental illness in response to the Truchon decision, which was not an appellate decision, as the member said, but a lower court decision that, yes, the government should have appealed. We have heard from experts the fundamental clinical issues, including the difficulty, if not impossibility, of predicting irremediability as part of the reason why there was a one-year delay. It is part of the reason why now the government is kicking the can down the road with a further three-year delay. What evidence can the member cite that the issue is going to be resolved in three short years?
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