I added then that “a recent case in the Netherlands confirms my strong reservations.” Now we have even more recent cases in Canada, which has decided that offing society’s most expensive and vulnerable members is just wonderful. Speaking of wonder, I wonder when the Left will apologize to Sarah Palin, who correctly pointed out that national health care inevitably leads to rationing and “death panels,” and was demonized and mocked for it.
When I saw this video and the horrific statistics it reveals, I immediately thought of Ann Althouse, a TikTok addict, whom I was sure would pounce on it and use it on her blog. (I would not watch TikTok on my own while it was owned by Chinese interests, and I have not yet broken the habit since New Years, when American owners took over.) Sure enough, there it was. Ann’s commenters managed to cover pretty much all the ethics bases about why Canada’s euthanasia policies are disturbing yet telling, and I’d urge you to read them here.
I’ll close with this: the United States of America was founded on the values of individualism, autonomy, stubbornness, courage, fortitude, optimism, and the belief that everyone in society has rights, one of which is the right to life. Allowing the government to determine when someone has the right to end his or her own life is an irresolvable ethics conflict; because doing so breaches some core values, like responsibility, accountability and respect. Upholding those societal values are why it is appropriate for the government to declare its ethical and moral opposition to suicide by making it unlawful.
However, when the government takes an active role in the individual’s decision by enabling and abetting suicide, it does so with a clear conflict of interest. The conflict that leads to “Logan’s Run,” the science fiction film about a future society in which the population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by killing everyone who reaches the age of 30. 50, 70, 90…the age doesn’t change the ethical equation for a society that embraces life and autonomy.
The Founders’ version of a republic is not for the faint-hearted and weenies, nor is capitalism. However, a culture that encourages life, struggle ,and individual choice (though not the choice to kill another for one’s own convenience) is one worth fighting for….and apparently fighting for it is what we will have to do.
Ethics Alarms 
Demographers talk about the “dependency ratio.” It is a measure of elderly, children, the disabled and otherwise not working, divided by the working adults. The world has seen a huge decline in the dependency ratio, because people in the developed world haven’t been having children. But we’re on the cusp of that radically reversing. Because of the one child policy, China is expected to be the worst in the world, reaching over 120%.
That fear is eliminated by “one simple trick”: Kill off the elderly. It looks like Canada is leading the way.
“That fear is eliminated by ‘one simple trick’: Kill off the elderly.” (bolds mine)
Was that China’s angle with Wuhan?
PWS
MAID seems to be fast becoming a euphemism for suicide like “gender affirming care”.
Next up, referring to MAID as suicide will be considered hate speech along the same path of reason of misgendering and get you thrown in jail like the dad in British Columbia.
What’s fun about cultural predictions now is that you only need to imagine a Babylon Bee headline and think “nahh that would never happen” and it probably will.
Canada had a case where they euthanized a woman against her and her husband’s wishes because the family wanted it. The couple wanted more home health care, but the state decided that the husband was suffering from caregiver burnout. The state denied extra home health care and decided that she needed to be euthanized immediately. They decided they couldn’t wait until the next morning for someone to hear the husband’s appeal of the decision.
Here is the file. The case is on page 22 of the pdf file (21 of the document). Note that nowhere in the file is it documented that the patient agreed to MAID. https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/MDRC-Report-2024.4_Same-Day-Next-Day-Provisions_Final.pdf