Survey finds Albertans largely support MAID, but split on bill controlling access

A new survey finds Albertans largely support Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), but are split on the province’s new bill that aims to control access.

ThinkHQ’s survey released Wednesday saw around 70 per cent of respondents approve of the country’s current MAID provisions (42 per cent strongly and 29 per cent somewhat), while 23 per cent disapprove. Six per cent are unsure.

Bill 18, introduced by the UCP Alberta government in March, would only allow MAID to those expected to die within a year if passed, and would not allow it for those with mental illness as a sole condition.

Alongside banning mental illness as a sole qualifying factor, Alberta also plans to prohibit minors from accessing the program. The federal law already has this safeguard in place — a person must be over the age of 18 to apply for MAID.

Marc Henry, the ThinkHQ president, says the topic is a tough one, so when discussing sensitive topics like MAID, they make sure there is all the information required to understand the question.

“So we give them the background on here’s the circumstances or the situation, and how do you feel about it? And so we gave them sort of an overview of what the process is nationally and gave them an overview of Bill 18 and asked for their feelings about it,” he told 660 NewsRadio.

“And we also asked about their feelings for themselves, if they ever found themselves in the circumstances where they may wish to utilize medical assistance in dying, whether or not that would be something they would want to have as an option.”

According to the report, 35 per cent of respondents may not want to use it but would like the option, and 40 per cent would consider it if they were suffering from a terminal illness.

Henry says they approached this topic by asking respondents what would happen in said situations.

“We asked people once we went through and talked about the legislation and the framework, whether it would be something if they found themselves in a situation personally where they were suffering from an irremediable and grievous illness, disease, so and so, whether or not they would personally consider utilizing medical assistance in dying,” Henry said.

“And you’ve got almost four in 10 saying, yes, they would consider it. You’ve got another 35 per cent saying, don’t know whether I would or not, but I would like that option to be available to me. And fewer than one in five saying that that’s something they would never consider.”

Meanwhile, a plurality of Albertans say the application as set out in Bill 18 is “too narrow” in terms of the conditions under which someone might avail themselves of it, while only 17 per cent feel it’s too broad.

But the clear split of 46 to 46 on the approval of the bill reveals how deeply personal and challenging the topic is, Henry says.

“It’s an awfully tough subject,” Henry said. “I mean, most people don’t like considering their own mortality and thinking about these sorts of things, but it’s also a very important one for, you know, people who are in that situation.”

The bill has been lauded and applauded by various groups and critics. Premier Danielle Smith has said MAID should be a compassionate option for those not able to recover from a serious or terminal illness.

With files from Lisa Grant