WhatFinger


Right to die, pro-euthanasia, Choice, Abortion

Choice—it really isn’t a Canadian concept



The Toronto Sun is doing several pieces this week on the controversial issue of the right to die. In a pro-euthanasia article, Donald Babey, the executive Director of Dying with Dignity Canada wrote a column of course supporting peoples' right to die with help from a doctor. Entitled "Euthanasia debate is about choice", Babey begins his column as follows:

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As a society, we believe in and value freedom of choice. It is part of the Canadian culture and it is one of the tenets that make us proud. It's a nice spin by someone who is trying to score points in an argument but that's all it is; spin. The concept of choice is about as Canadian as the United States Marines. Choice in this country is pretty well limited to one thing--abortion. We all know that if someone ever says, "I'm for choice" or "I'm pro choice", they are talking about abortion; nothing more, nothing less. Our concept in Canada regarding "choice" is so limited it is pretty well restricted to abortion and the few crumbs that our nanny state governments choose to throw us. If the right to physician-assisted suicide ever comes to pass and it probably will upon the ascension to power by another Liberal government that will take place if and when that party ever gets a leader, we will be treated to an irony of ironies. A patient who decides to terminate his or her life will be able to go to a doctor and get help with ending their lives, provided of course that the patient can get an appointment with the physician before they expire. Now, if that patient wants to see a doctor immediately (because they are in severe pain) and the doctor is willing to comply and both are willing to enter into a cash transaction, that of course is and will remain to be illegal. Canadians will have a choice to obtain the help of a doctor in ending their lives but won't be able to pay for that help. Then there is the matter of school choice. Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory blew the last election that he should have won. The issue that prevented him from gaining power from a premier who was vulnerable was that of funding for faith based schools. If we had a real conservative opposition party in this province (and in fairness to Tory, he's never claimed to be a "real conservative") that wanted to tinker with the educational system they would have framed the argument in terms of "choice" rather than "fairness" in giving Muslims, Jews and Evangelical Christians, the same separate schools that Catholics now have. All parents would be given the choice to send their children to whatever type of school that they wanted to, provided that the school in question met provincial standarts. Parents would receive money or vouchers that would enable them to send their kids to artistic or sports schools as well as religious ones. We would have real competition in the education system and specialized schools would be allowed to develop. Parents would be given, real choice. But apparently, this idea of choice is thought to be more radical than allowing schools based upon faith only. Slowly but surely, the government is taking steps to limit those choices that we do have. Cigarette smoking is banned in all public places. Restaurants are denied the choice of allowing smoking in their establishments that would be frequented by adult patrons who either smoke or are willing to go to a smoke-filled public venue. This is an extreme example, but one of the many where, slowly but surely, the government is limiting the choices that Canadians have. We can look forward to more and more restrictions on what we can eat and what activities we can engage in. And this is all being done by a big brother government who can justify denying choice to Canadians on the grounds that the cost to the health care system will be too great. And the lemmings simply go along with all this. Provided that our democratic system holds up, Canadians will always have a choice when they go to the polls. But more and more people are giving up their right exercise this choice on the grounds that "they are all the same". In the recent Ontario election that pitted a sleazy tax and spend premier against an opposition leader with a polarizing issue, barely more than half of the eligible voters bothered to turn out. No, choice is hardly the Canadian value that Donald Babey purports it to be. None of this should be seen as a criticism of the way Mr. Babey framed his pro-euthanasia argument. When it comes to snuffing out life, arguing that it is a matter of choice is the right way to go.


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Arthur Weinreb -- Bio and Archives

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. Arthur’s latest book, Ford Nation: Why hundreds of thousands of Torontonians supported their conservative crack-smoking mayor is available at Amazon. Racism and the Death of Trayvon Martin is also available at Smashwords. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com,  Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.

Older articles (2007) by Arthur Weinreb


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