Juno News - October 07, 2025


Doctors perform heart transplant from assisted suicide donor


Episode Stats

Length

13 minutes

Words per Minute

139.96619

Word Count

1,849

Sentence Count

73

Misogynist Sentences

1


Summary

Canadian doctors have now begun transplanting organs harvested from individuals killed through Canada s euthanasia program. A new poll shows the NDP Premier David Eby is now tied or ahead of BC Conservative Leader John Rustad in public opinion on several issues, including crime. A Conservative MP grilled the Liberal government over its ban on nicotine pouches, highlighting how contradictory the law is when compared to the Liberal's stated goal to reduce smoking levels in the country.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Canadian doctors have now begun transplanting organs harvested from individuals killed through
00:00:10.300 Canada's euthanasia program. A new poll shows the NDP Premier David Eby is now tied or ahead
00:00:17.100 of BC Conservative leader John Rustad in public opinion on several issues, including crime.
00:00:22.400 A Conservative MP grilled the Liberal government over its ban on nicotine pouches, highlighting
00:00:28.760 how contradictory the law is when compared to the Liberal's stated goal to reduce smoking
00:00:34.180 levels in the country. Hello Canada, it's Tuesday, October 7th, and this is the True North Daily
00:00:40.300 Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Jeff Knight. We've got you covered with all the news you need
00:00:45.960 to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere
00:00:51.800 else. Canadian doctors have performed a successful heart transplant using an organ from an assisted
00:01:00.640 suicide donor. The 38-year-old donor who had ALS recently underwent medically assisted suicide
00:01:08.720 and had consented to organ donation before the procedure. According to a case report published
00:01:15.140 in June by physicians from the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,
00:01:20.980 the donor's heart was removed within minutes of death, reanimated, and transplanted into a 59-year-old
00:01:27.760 man in Pittsburgh. The recipient was discharged 20 days later in good condition. This is believed to
00:01:34.280 be the first recorded heart transplant after assisted suicide with previous donations involving lungs,
00:01:40.880 kidneys, kidneys, and livers. Since assisted suicide became legal in 2016, organ donation
00:01:47.480 following euthanasia has steadily increased. According to the Canadian Institute for Health
00:01:52.540 Information, 7% of all deceased organ donors in 2024 died through assisted suicide. That year,
00:02:00.920 5% of all transplants used organs from such donors. A review cited in both LifeSite News and
00:02:08.580 National Post noted that at least 235 assisted suicide patients have consented to donate their organs
00:02:15.740 since 2016. Of 286 international organ donations after death cases documented up to 2021, 136 occurred
00:02:27.100 in Canada, placing the country at the forefront of the practice. Jeff, what are some of the critics
00:02:33.280 of Canada's assisted suicide program warning about this, particularly how far it's gone? The numbers
00:02:43.060 that we're seeing of people choosing to die this way? And what are the potential implications of
00:02:50.780 allowing recipients of medically assisted suicide to donate their organs? Yeah, Cosman, critics are raising
00:02:57.340 some serious red flags about this heart transplant case and the broader trend of organ donation after
00:03:02.700 assisted suicide. They're worried that it could lead to a slippery slope where the program is seen
00:03:07.820 more as a way to harvest organs rather than purely as a compassionate end-of-life option. Organizations
00:03:13.460 like LifeSite News and the National Post have highlighted concerns that this practice might pressure
00:03:18.220 vulnerable individuals into choosing MAID, not just for personal reasons but also to benefit others,
00:03:23.660 potentially undermining the voluntary nature of the decision. There's also the ethical dilemma of
00:03:28.860 whether the organ donation process influences the timing or decision to proceed with MAID. As noted in
00:03:34.860 a UN report from 2025 that recommended disqualifying non-terminal patients from euthanasia, the potential
00:03:42.140 implications are pretty heavy. There's a fear that it could devalue life, especially for those with
00:03:47.420 disabilities or chronic conditions who might feel like a burden or see MAID as their only contribution. Plus,
00:03:53.420 the international attention, with Canada leading in 136 out of 286 cases by 2021, which suggests this
00:04:01.180 could set a precedent that other countries might follow, raising global ethical concerns about the
00:04:05.820 intersection of euthanasia and organ donation. It's a pretty complex issue and the worry is that
00:04:10.940 without strict safeguards it could lead to unintended consequences that blur the line between choice and
00:04:16.620 coercion.
00:04:20.940 BC NDP Premier David Eby has pulled ahead of BC Conservative leader John Rustad and is now leading
00:04:27.580 or tied with the opposition on several critical issues, including crime. According to a new research
00:04:33.500 co-poll, the BC NDP are six points ahead of the BC Conservatives when it comes to vote intention. When voters
00:04:40.060 were asked to rank who was more fit to be premier, Eby, 37%, gained a 16-point lead over Rustad, 21%.
00:04:48.460 When broken down by issues, Eby is seen as better suited than Rustad to handle seven key issues,
00:04:54.060 including education, 44% to 26%, the environment, 43% to 24%, health care, 41% to 28%, housing and poverty,
00:05:03.900 40% to 28%, energy, 40% to 29%, the economy, 38% to 31%, and accountability, 37% to 30%. The two leaders
00:05:16.540 are tied on crime and public safety at 34% each. Crime has been a sticking point for Eby as he tried to
00:05:23.340 distance himself from unpopular policies like decriminalization and his own past advocacy,
00:05:29.260 which includes pending a book titled, quote, How to Sue the Police and Private Security in Small
00:05:35.500 Claims Court. Housing, poverty and homelessness remain the top concerns for British Columbians,
00:05:41.180 with 30% identifying the issue as their top priority, down four points. So, Cosmin,
00:05:46.540 what could have made Rustad fall so far in public opinion? What are British Columbians who were his base
00:05:51.660 in the last election saying? Yeah, Jeff, there's several problems that seem to be compounding
00:05:57.100 for the BC Conservatives, but in particular with John Rustad. He faces internal divisions with his own
00:06:05.420 party, but I think also the base has sort of lost faith in John Rustad as being the capable person
00:06:14.620 to represent them. And when I saw the fact that I think this is the only Conservative Party in the
00:06:22.220 entire country, a provincial Conservative Party that is polling worse on a topic like crime than anywhere
00:06:30.140 else. It's astounding to me that the BC Conservatives are performing this bad. They're tied with David Eby
00:06:41.180 on crime. I mean, it's ridiculous. David Eby has, in many ways, played a direct role in how bad crime has
00:06:49.820 gotten in British Columbia. Through the disastrous policies that he's pushed his entire life, even
00:06:57.820 before he went into office and pursued politics. As you mentioned in the article, he advocated for
00:07:06.220 criminals to essentially sue the police and get away with crimes. You know, they've overseen
00:07:12.140 the criminals being let out on bail. The BC Prosecution Service has not done its job. So,
00:07:19.020 it's quite astounding that this is where that party has come. And we're talking about a party that
00:07:25.580 essentially rose from virtually nothing. They were a force to be reckoned with decades ago, but it was
00:07:33.180 just in the last few years that the BC Conservatives were revived and turned into what it is now. But the
00:07:42.140 question is whether John Rustad's time as leader has served its purpose. And I think a lot of people
00:07:48.860 are looking at this poll today and how remarkably poor the BC Conservatives are performing, especially
00:07:56.940 on those core issues. And they have a lot of questions to ask themselves as a result.
00:08:01.980 A Conservative MP has slammed the Liberal government's ban on commercial nicotine pouches,
00:08:10.700 arguing that prohibiting smoking cessation alternatives makes no sense in the effort to
00:08:16.620 reduce cigarette use. Conservative MP Burton Bailey questioned the Liberal's strategy to reduce the
00:08:23.100 number of Canadian smokers to 5% by 2035 by banning products used to quit. He asked why the government
00:08:31.580 wouldn't reverse its commercial ban on nicotine products. Data from 2022 to 2025 would suggest
00:08:38.140 that the use of nicotine pouches as an alternative to smoking cigarettes had a marked decrease in
00:08:44.380 cigarette sales. From the point of Health Canada regulation of about 4%. Why was the sale of pouches
00:08:52.620 approved by Health Canada in the first place? Nicotine pouches were approved as one of the products
00:09:07.180 that exist in terms of other ways in which people can consume nicotine and that it is less harmful than
00:09:20.460 cigarettes. The Liberals ban implemented last year prohibits the sale of nicotine pouches in
00:09:26.060 convenience stores but still permits select brands to be sold by pharmacists, while several flavored
00:09:32.060 options have been outright banned. Bailey asked the Deputy Health Minister why the government doesn't allow
00:09:38.780 convenience stores to sell the product, making the less harmful smoking cessation product more available to
00:09:45.740 Canadians with valid ID. The Deputy Minister noted that the ban was to prevent children from accessing
00:09:52.860 nicotine pouches and that Health Canada quote will continue to review and consider in order to inform the
00:09:59.900 government's regulations. Bailey noted that cigarettes are still available with proper ID but nicotine pouches
00:10:07.020 which the Deputy Minister admitted were a healthier alternative and used to get off cigarettes were less
00:10:13.580 available. Why is it easier to buy cigarettes when we want people to stop smoking? Why aren't we allowing
00:10:21.260 these nicotine replacement pouches to be bought in convenience stores like cigarettes? So the Ministerial
00:10:29.900 order in respect of nicotine replacement therapies was put in place as a way to protect youth from harms of
00:10:43.580 nicotine replacement therapies. Nicotine replacement pouches and that was the reason behind the ministerial order.
00:10:53.980 But cigarettes are still available with proper ID. Why can we not have the same for replacement therapy?
00:11:01.980 Jeff, to me it doesn't make sense that the Liberals would go and ban nicotine pouches
00:11:09.420 which you know nicotine is a highly addictive substance but let's be real it does not contain all of the poison
00:11:17.260 tar etc that is inhaled via cigarettes yet they still allow the sale of cigarettes across the country
00:11:26.460 at convenience stores and other locations. So what are people saying about this and the logic behind the
00:11:34.380 Liberals commercial ban on nicotine pouches? Yeah, Cosmin experts and critics have been pretty vocal about all this
00:11:41.420 their arguments are all over the place. You have Anne Cothiwalla, the President and CEO of the Convenience Industry
00:11:48.380 Council of Canada and she's been pushing hard saying the ban is contradictory because it bans a product that's actually
00:11:54.460 helping people quit smoking while still allowing cigarettes to be sold with proper ID.
00:11:58.860 She's argued that outright bans just push consumers back to the black market which is a big deal
00:12:05.180 because these illegal sales could be funding organized crime and there's no health regulation
00:12:09.820 on these black market goods making them even more dangerous. Plus she's pointed out that convenience
00:12:15.500 stores are everywhere in nearly every riding and township across Canada so a failed convenience store
00:12:21.100 industry could be a disaster for the Canadian economy. During the last election conservatives like Burton
00:12:26.940 Bailey echoed this questioning why the government wouldn't reverse the ban to make these products
00:12:31.740 more available especially considering they're a healthier alternative. Pharmacy unions have also
00:12:37.180 chimed in saying they don't want the responsibility of deciding who can and can't access nicotine pouches
00:12:43.340 which adds another layer to the criticism. It's a mess really with everyone from industry leaders
00:12:47.980 to health professionals pointing out how the ban doesn't make sense and could have some pretty nasty side effects.
00:12:53.420 That's it for today folks thanks for tuning in you can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by
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