St. Albert MP Michael Cooper is set to play a leading role in shaping legislation surrounding Canada’s new physician-assisted dying legislation.
Last week, Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton), was named to a special joint committee that will draft the legislative framework for a federal response on physician-assisted dying. The St. Albert-Edmonton MP has since been named co-vice chair, making him the top Conservative on the file.
Prior to being elected in fall 2015, Cooper was a civil litigator with Ogilvie LP, an Edmonton law firm. He is also deputy justice critic for the Conservative Opposition.
The joint committee, which brings together members of the upper and lower chambers for the first time in almost 20 years, is tasked with reviewing previous reports, including the recently released Expert Panel report, undertaking significant public consultation of its own and providing a final report by Feb. 26.
“This process is going to be (undertaken) at lightning speed. That is unfortunate because what is required is broad consultation and that, I believe, may be impaired because of the timeline,” said Cooper.
“It’s regrettable,” he added, “because this committee could have been established in December but for whatever reason the government dragged its feet.”
The four-month extension granted by the Supreme Court last week won’t alter the committee’s deadline, but will allow more time for the government to review the recommendations made by the committee before passing them through the House of Commons.
Despite the compressed timeline, Cooper remains optimistic that a “reasonable recommendation that addresses the issue and protects vulnerable people” can be put forward to the government, but noted that it is unlikely to please everyone.
“At the end of the day, it’s not going to be possible to satisfy everyone on an issue as emotionally charged as this one, that involves many deep, underlying legal, moral and ethical questions. What is important is that the committee consult broadly and take those diverse views into consideration,” he said.
During the federal election campaign, the Gazette reported that Cooper had been endorsed by a national anti-abortion group, Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), for his views on abortion.
Cooper was listed as having responded to a survey issued by the coalition on Sept. 24, 2014, a month before he was selected as the Conservative candidate. Cooper was unavailable for an interview at the time of publication, but recently informed the Gazette that he did not respond to the survey in question.
Jack Fonseca, a project manager for CLC’s political desk, confirmed he had no record of Cooper taking part in the survey. He attributed the error to a possible data entry mistake.
The CLC has since updated the survey results, but has not removed Cooper from its list of pro-life candidates, meant to act as a guide for pro-life voters.
When asked if he had any personal views on the issue of physician-assisted suicide, Cooper said that he is approaching his committee work with an open mind.
“I’m reviewing this in the context of the Carter decision that was issued. I’m open to all points of view,” he said.
The committee held its first meeting this week. No future meetings had been released at the time of publication.
