EDMONTON - Alberta’s justice minister has been directed to introduce new legislation on Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAID, that would give the government greater control and oversight of the program.
A new mandate letter to Mickey Amery from Premier Danielle Smith says the legislation should introduce “appropriate safeguards” and prohibit mental illness from being a sole eligibility factor.
The letter doesn’t provide detail on what safeguards the province is looking to implement or what kind of oversight it wants to have. Amery’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions Thursday.
Mental illness has never been an approved sole eligibility factor for MAID, though the federal government has considered permitting it.
Ottawa planned to allow it starting in 2023, but it passed legislation that year delaying the decision for two years to allow for further study. The government delayed the implementation again last year, putting it off to 2027.
According to data from Alberta’s provincial health authority, 1,117 Albertans chose to have a medically assisted death last year, and just over 5,000 Albertans have chosen MAID since the program’s implementation in 2016.
Smith’s letter directing new provincial legislation on MAID comes almost a year after the government surveyed just under 20,000 Albertans on whether they think the province should step in. Nearly half of those surveyed disagreed with putting in more guardrails on MAID decisions.
The government’s website for the engagement effort now says the province is also considering creating a new public agency to provide oversight and launching a new dispute mechanism for family members looking to intervene in a MAID decision.
Opposition NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman said in a statement that she would review the legislation once it’s tabled, but said the government needed to focus on more pressing health-care issues such as 鈥渞educing wait times, getting people family doctors, and stopping the overcrowding in our (emergency rooms).鈥
Amery has also been tasked with introducing new legislation “to protect the free speech rights of all provincially regulated professionals,” such as lawyers and physicians.
The government’s plan to introduce legislation on this issue was announced last year, with Smith and Amery posting a video to social media explaining it was needed to ensure regulated professionals weren’t being policed for opinions on subjects unconnected to their field of practice.
Smith and Amery, in the video, cited psychologist and media personality Jordan Peterson being directed to undergo training by the College of Psychologists of Ontario after complaints about his online comments as one reason why legislation was needed in Alberta.
Critics at the time said Smith’s government was looking to give people the freedom to spread misinformation without professional consequences.
Amery wasn’t the only minister to receive a new mandate letter Thursday, as Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis, Family Services Minister Searle Turton, and Smith’s own deputy minister of intergovernmental relations were all given new tasks.
A government news release says Ellis needs to work with Amery on crafting a new policing priority framework that directs police forces to focus on the government’s priorities.聽
Ellis’s letter also says he needs to continue offering support to municipalities who wish to create their own police force to replace the RCMP.
Smith’s new intergovernmental relations mandate, addressed to a top bureaucrat, says the government should plan to open new offices in Abu Dhabi and Mumbai to expand the province’s international presence.
It also says the government will table legislation “to protect Alberta鈥檚 authority in the implementation of international agreements.”
Smith’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about what that legislation would accomplish or set out to do.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.
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