OTTAWA — The joint parliamentary committee that's examining the divisive issue of doctor-assisted death has scheduled its first meeting for next Monday.
A list of 11 MPs who will sit on the panel was released today.
The MPs include six Liberals, three Conservatives and two New Democrats, all of whom will join five senators on the panel who were named earlier.
Three of the senators are Conservatives and two are independent Liberals.
The panel is to consult Canadians on how to bring in a new law on assisted dying that addresses the constitutional issues raised in a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling last year.
The court recognized the right of consenting adults enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to end their lives with a doctor's help.
It suspended its decision for a year to give Parliament a chance to figure out how to respond to the ruling. The government has asked for a six-month extension on that deadline, which is just over three weeks away.
The panel includes several rookie MPs, a former Conservative cabinet minister and a veteran New Democrat.
One of the Conservatives, B.C. MP Mark Warawa, sparked a controversy in the last Parliament when he proposed a motion deploring sex-selective abortions — a move some saw as a veiled effort to re-open the abortion debate.
The motion never came to a vote, leaving a bitter Warawa to complain that he was being muzzled by his own party.
