Liberal backbenchers vote against Trudeau on S-201

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MPs reject Liberal government's attempt to gut genetic discrimination bill

MPs reject Liberal government's attempt to gut genetic discrimination bill

An attempt by the Liberal government to gut the genetic discrimination bill was defeated by a coalition of MPs from across party lines Tuesday evening, despite constitutional concerns raised by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Alberta Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault had introduced a motion in the House to remove key sections of the legislation, including those relating to penalties for genetic discrimination and language forbidding employers from subjecting job applicants to a genetic test. His efforts to dramatically reduce the bill's scope were defeated in a voice vote.

A number of Liberal backbenchers, including Toronto-area MPs Jennifer O'Connell and Pam Damoff, spoke in favour of Bill S-201 — An Act to Prohibit and Prevent Genetic Discrimination — as originally drafted by recently retired Liberal senator Jim Cowan.

Conservative and NDP MPs also offered their support and chided the cabinet for accepting the "scaremongering" rhetoric of the insurance industry.

Now, at the request of the government, there will be a recorded vote (also referred to as a standing vote) on Boissonault's amendments Wednesday evening.

Liberals supported protections last election

Cowan said in an interview with CBC News Tuesday that the Trudeau cabinet's opposition to the bill is "curious" given the party's vocal embrace of such legislation during the last election campaign and raised the possibility that aggressive lobbying efforts by the insurance industry soured support.

Anna Gainey, the president of the federal Liberals, wrote to the Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness in October 2015 promising a Liberal government would "introduce measures, including possible legislative change, to prevent this [genetic] discrimination."

"Today, even people without symptoms can be denied life, mortgage and disability insurance and even rejected for employment based on genetic testing that shows risk of future illness. Many other countries have passed legislation on this problem. Canada is an outlier," she said in the letter addressed to the chair of the coalition, Bev Heim-Myers, and obtained by the CBC News.

MPs reject Liberal government's attempt to gut genetic discrimination bill - Politics - CBC News
 
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Big news on the invasion of privacy and future discrimination.........


In the end, it wasn’t close with nearly 100 Liberals MPs siding with Oliphant and against Trudeau.

Over the objection of their own government, dozens of Liberal backbenchers voted Wednesday night in favour of a bill banning genetic discrimination.

In voting for what is known as Bill S-201, the backbench Liberals, along with all Conservative, NDP and Green Party MPs made it a crime for, among other things, insurance companies to demand potential customers provide a DNA test in order to get a policy. Additionally, no company will be able to deny someone a job if they fail to have their genes tested.

Protection from discrimination because of an individual’s genetic makeup will now be written into the Canadian Labour Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

S-201 had been opposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who, on Wednesday morning, called it “unconstitutional” on the grounds that in regulating insurance companies the bill was wading into an area subject to provincial jurisdiction.

But a parliamentary committee that studied the bill heard from four constitutional lawyers, three of whom said the bill was sound from a constitutional point of view, that it did not target any particular commercial sector and, therefore, did not infringe on provincial powers.

Trudeau was not in the House of Commons for the vote Wednesday night — he was in Toronto meeting the board of directors of New York-based investment behemoth Blackrock Inc. — but he had ordered all his cabinet ministers to vote against the bill. Those that were in the House of Commons did just that.

Insurance company representatives had testified that, if S-201 passed and became law — as it will before the end of spring — premiums for some kinds of insurance, including life insurance could skyrocket.

An actuary working for the insurance committee testifed last fall at the Commons justice committee that premiums for men would jump 30 per cent and would jump 50 per cent for women.

But MPs refused to buy that spin and instead, based their vote on the testimony of many healthcare providers, charities and others who were more concerned about protecting privacy rights while helping people benefit from emerging gene therapies.

A physician testified at a commons committee in November of several instances when he counselled patients to have a genetic test to better understand or better treat a potential medical condition. Those patients, nervous that the results of those DNA tests would disqualify them for life insurance or a job, declined the tests.

Liberal backbenchers vote against Trudeau, pass law banning genetic discrimination | National Post

Who voted in favour of the Insurance Companies and Discrimination


https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/S-201/
 
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