Satire site The Babylon Bee recently ran the headline, ‘Canadian Healthcare System Introduces Punch Card Where On Your 10th Visit You Get Free Suicide.’ Sadly, the joke isn’t too far off from reality.
Earlier this year, I posted a meme on Facebook that brutally skewered Canada’s euthanasia regime. It showed an American doctor telling a patient his stitches would cost $58,000; a British doctor that the waitlist for stitches was 38 months; and a Canadian doctor solicitously inquiring: “Have you considered killing yourself?” (Another variation of the same meme has the doctor bluntly stating: “Kill yourself”—that’s because in Canada, we have the waitlistand the suicide.)
Facebook pulled the image and restricted my account. It violated their rules on the promotion of suicide. The Canadian Association of MAiD Assessors and Providers (CAMAP), however, operates freely on Facebook despite the fact that facilitating suicide is their entire job.
I’ve noted before in this space that Canada’s euthanasia regime has turned us into an international cautionary tale—a country where we can, as it turns out, have the worst of all worlds. We can have a woke government that talks constantly about helping the poor, but implements euthanasia policies that victimize them (leading to headlines in the international press such as: “Why is Canada euthanizing the poor?”) The steady conveyer belt of horror stories as disabled, sick, and desperate Canadians seek lethal injections—often the only “treatment” they’re eligible for in our broken system—makes the old Mitchell and Webb sketch seem plausible:
Consider that in the midst of all of this, the Trudeau government is—for the moment—still hellbent on expanding assisted suicide to the mentally ill in March, despite desperate calls to halt these plans from the psychiatric community, Canadian medical schools, suicide prevention experts, the disability community, and virtually everyone but the suicide enthusiasts at Dying with Dignity. It actually boggles the mind—the prime minister’s own mother has written several memoirs describing her own struggled with mental illness which would, come March, make her eligible to die under the regime her son has introduced.
As Canada’s MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) system continues to alleviate the pain of patients and the financial strain on the nation’s healthcare system, a recent innovation is expected to further improve results: Parliament just announced a punch card that allows patients to receive a free suicide after 10 doctor visits.
‘From a small-scale maple syrup overdose to a full-blown moose attack, you receive a punch on your card every time you are admitted for an injury or sickness.’ The Canadian Healthcare website published a blog this week outlining the new program.
‘Filling out your punch card is mandatory, for data tracking purposes. No one sick person can be allowed to drain more than their share of the taxpayer’s dollars!’
Trudeau praised the new initiative, positioning it as a way to better engage citizens and prevent any one citizen from becoming a burden on the system. ‘Canadians are team players,’ said Trudeau. ‘It’s important for every citizen to make sure he’s not wasting taxpayer money to sustain a life that’s not worth living. And now with this punch card, they know that with each hospital visit they’re one step closer to the end!’
For anyone offended by this, I would remind them that Canadians right across the country have been pro-actively offered assisted suicide by doctors—including military veterans suffering from PTSD. Cancer patients have been told that treatment that might save their lives is not available—but assisted suicide is. A disabled man in a hospital in London recorded an ethicist telling him that he should consider assisted suicide because his care was costing the system so much money. One Canadian doctor told me that his colleagues feel obligated to present “MAiD” as an option—and that increasingly, sick and vulnerable Canadians will feel obligated to take it.
More from The Bee:
Critics have contended that the new approach preys on disabled and impoverished Canadians who may see assisted suicide as their only option, but the criticism has already been quieted since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau froze the bank accounts of anyone who spoke out against his regime’s policies in the comments section of the healthcare website’s blog, or on Twitter, or elsewhere. At publishing time, the burden on Canada’s healthcare system was further alleviated when Parliament announced that the policy would retroactively apply to people who had already been admitted for 10 prior hospital visits.
That sort of thing provokes what they call a “painful chuckle.” The truth is that, as Ross Douthat noted in the New York Times, Canada has already entered a truly dystopian period—when over 4% of recorded deaths are Canadians being lethally injected by doctors, we’re all the way down the slope and there’s a huge pile of corpses at the bottom. I really wish that article was more satirical than it is.
Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.
He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.
Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.
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The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers have filed a claim in Quebec Superior Court against Quebec City (City) on behalf of Burn 24/7 Canada Worship Ministries, a Christian organization whose worship event was abruptly cancelled by the City this past summer.
The claim seeks reimbursement of rent, punitive damages, and judicial declarations that the City violated Burn 24/7 Canada’s fundamental freedoms protected under both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
Based in British Columbia, Burn 24/7 Canada is a non-profit Christian ministry that organizes musical worship and prayer events across the country. Its July 2025 Canadian tour featured American singer-songwriter Sean Feucht, known for his contemporary Christian music. Mr. Feucht had been portrayed negatively in some Canadian media outlets for his opposition to abortion, his support for traditional marriage, and his public support of U.S. President Donald Trump.
On July 4, 2025, Burn 24/7 Canada signed a lease with the City to hold a worship and prayer event at ExpoCité. The organization paid the full rental fee of $2,609.93 on July 14. However, without notice, the City cancelled the lease on July 23—just one day before the scheduled event—claiming the presence of a “controversial” artist had not been disclosed. Officials stated publicly that ExpoCité had terminated the contract after determining an “artist who generates significant controversy has consequences for ExpoCité’s reputation.”
The City cited sections of the lease related to “illegal solicitation” and “use of premises,” arguing these clauses gave it authority to terminate the agreement. Lawyers representing Burn 24/7 argue this claim is absurd, made in bad faith, and reflective of clear discrimination on the basis of religion and political opinion.
Constitutional lawyer Olivier Séguin said, “In this era of cancel culture, it’s easy to see why some private citizens might yield to public pressure. But when government officials do the same, it crosses a line. The City’s conduct is inexcusable and must be punished.”
The lawsuit comes amid a wave of cancellations that swept across Canada in July 2025, after Parks Canada and several municipalities—including Halifax, Charlottetown, and Moncton—revoked permissions for Mr. Feucht’s scheduled events, citing “security” concerns following threats of protest.
In this brief video, constitutional lawyer Mr. Séguin summarizes the details of this matter.
Throughout the recent World Series baseball fans were regaled with the exploding total in the Blue Jays World Series 50/50 draw. When the L.A.Dodgers finally subdued the Jays in the seventh game the total had skyrocketed to a whopping $50,020,115— half of which was won by a fan from Oshawa, Ont.
That means that $25,010,055 was donated to Jays Care Foundation which then sends money to worthy charities and causes supported by the Blue Jays. A number of those charities are identified by the team in its publicity. Win/ win, right?
Should be. But how much of the $25,010,055 devoted to charities and sports organizations goes to administer the draw? We examined the rules printed online and the financial records to see the distribution of those funds. “At Jays Care, every dollar of net revenue, after prize payouts and raffle-related expenses are deducted, goes directly to supporting kids in Jays Care programming.”
To the unwashed public that says that $25,010,055 is going completely to the charities;. Wait, they said “net revenue” and “raffle-related expenses” Okay, what constitutes net revenue? What are raffle-related expenses? In the 2024 statements for Jays Care Foundation, general and administration total is $324,321 after raising $21,234,364 . Seems like to might be worth noting.
This is not to suggest that the Jays Care lotteries are not what they seem on the surface. Or they do not have a charitable component. We have been unable to find any reporting on the draw that implies or states something shady. Or any reporting from Toronto’s vast media mob into just how these draws work. Still, the public should know how much of the prize money they’re donating goes to the charity. Because you won’t get it from listening to the team games on TV which marvel at the 50/50 amounts.
The Jays’ draw is worth noting, because there have been questions raised about other large sports 50/50 draws. The charity in charge of the Edmonton Oilers 50/50 raffles paid more than $81 million in lottery funds over four years to Win50, a sports betting and gaming company controlled by the Oilers Entertainment Group, according to audited financial statements obtained by the Investigative Journalism Foundation.
The IJF found that only 19.6 percent of the 50/50 raffle proceeds went to charity in 2024. The Oilers did not deny the claim, but did say that the charitable aspect of the draws and the publicity they generate far outweighs the costs in running the draws. “By focusing on expense ratios and purposely ignoring the millions of dollars in legitimate operational costs covered by WIN50, the IJF misleads readers about our how our 50/50 operates and our overall charitable impact.” Weak sauce, no?
Sources who spoke to us said that, in one case a capture of $550K returned just 10 percent— $55K— to their charity. The rest disappeared to pay bills and distribute funds as the organizers saw fit. Oh, and the charities must sign NDAs to keep their status as Oilers’ charities. There may be some legitimate reasons for the silence so far on the draws. But that was not communicated by the Oilers to their fans up front or in their response to the IJF.
It is reminiscent of stories we wrote for the Calgary Herald in the early 2000s about shady practices surrounding NHL oldtimers versus cops or fireman hockey promotions. Until we made it public the companies running the ticket sales oversold the arenas, created fictional handicapped children for donations, returned as little as five percent to charities and more— while never telling the NHL stars about the deception.
The other telling aspect of this Oilers Care story is that it was generated by an independent journalism source— not the main Edmonton media. The IJF is not likely to be getting seats on press row at the Rogers Centre any time soon with this kind of aggressive reporting.
With sports teams now partnering with broadcast and print partners, doing this kind of investigative work will not advance your career. We should know after enduring years of the cold shoulder for our reporting corruption in the NHL under Alan Eagleson and the league (Eagleson went to jail briefly for his fraudulent use of NHL Players Association and Hockey Canada funds.)
Rogers now has its name on numerous arenas and stadia across Canada. It controls MLSE, owners of the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC and the Argonauts. Former journalists work for team owners. The government sends “support” money to so-called private broadcasters and newspapers to toe the line. As we wrote in October the PR pitch for Elbows Up has been everywhere in Canadian sport.
“Rogers Media is running commercials during the Blue Jays AL Divisional Series boasting in Liberal red and white “Proud owners of Canada’s national team”. (What team owner has ever put itself above the title on a sports team?) If you haven’t caught that ad there are others Rogers’ ads extolling its magnificence in giving Canada the highest telephone bills this side of Botswana. Oh wait… They say, Go Jays Go, Canada’s national team. Sorry about that.
The team’s announcers are also reading verbatim prefab slugs about the story of the Blue Jays “not being written yet.” (We counted three doing the hype before Gm. 1 of the World Series) Watching the proud-as-punch onslaught from the team’s owner one would think this has to be more than Vlad Guerrero uber alles.”
Watching the willful denial of Canada’s legacy-media death throes is reminiscent of when the big automobile companies were challenged by smaller, more efficient Asian imports in the early 1970s. The Detroit big shots tried ignoring them, then actively enlisted government to stop them. Then, with bankruptcies impending, they copied them. The car market finally became a freer market in North America.
The media elites are at the stage where they’re begging government to excuse their inefficiencies and corruption versus “uncouth” independent media. The protectionist racket won’t work any better than it did for the car makers. The question now is will they accept the ultimate solution of sharing the field with social media and doing that kind of reporting again? Because, without that reckoning they won’t be here to greet the 2030s.
As Mark Hebscher concludes in his new book Madness, “In the end it’s not so much the stories being covered as the stories being missed.”
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
