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Dec 31,2006 - Jan7,2006 |
Expect new law on organ donations
Debate at Columbus Centre with George Marcello, Liberal and Tory MPPs and students
By Alan Patarga
Originally Published: 2006-05-14
A new bill with strong government backing was the main announcement heard at a debate held Tuesday at Columbus Centre. The discussion was promoted by Step by Step, the association founded by George Marcello to promote organ donation and supported by Multimedia Nova Corporation, parent company of Corriere Canadese/Tandem and a dozen other newspapers.
The announcement came from MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde, who discussed the upcoming moves of Health minister George Smitherman on the organ donation issue. "There is a concrete possibility," said the Liberal MPP, "that before the end of the year the provincial government will table a bill integrating and harmonizing the proposals currently being debated at Queen's Park."
Lalonde did not say it explicitly, but the bills to be 'integrated and harmonized' should be the one carrying his signature, another signed by Dave Levac (Liberal Whip at Queen's Park), and one by Tory MPP Frank Klees. The three bills are in fact relatively easy to integrate, as all mandate minor changes to the current system. Lalonde's bill would call for the creation of a centralized, easily accessible registry of organ donors, administered by the Trillium Gift of Life Network. Klees' bill would make it compulsory to answer a question on organ donation when obtaining or renewing a driving licence: the question would be put on the licence request form and allow people to answer 'undecided.' Levac's bill proposes the establishment of courses on education to organ donation in all Ontario schools. The story is different for the bill submitted by NDP's Peter Kormos (who had been invited to the debate but excused himself at the last minute): it includes an opt-out clause that is still controversial in Parliament and public opinion.
The unified bill on organ donation was not the only novelty unveiled in the debate, which was moderated by Donina Lombardi and saw the participation of MPPs Lalonde and Klees, our own Angelo Persichilli, and Step by Step founder George Marcello.
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