Senate sends C-14 to committee, but adjourns until after Monday deadline

There's now no way the federal government is going to meet Monday's Supreme Court deadline to enact legislation on doctor-assisted dying.

Senators have voted to adopt the legislation, known as Bill C-14, in principle and to send it to the Senate's legal committee.

• Neil Macdonald: Let the politicians keep talking, Supreme Court already settled death debate
• Aaron Wherry: With C-14, the beleaguered Senate has only its job to do
• MPs vote to send assisted dying bill to Senate

However, after Friday's decision, the upper chamber opted to adjourn until Tuesday — the day after the high court's deadline.

The members of the Senate committee will meet Monday to hear witnesses, and will do a clause-by-clause review first thing Tuesday in order to report it back to the Senate that day.

The decision followed a news conference by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said he was still confident the controversial bill could be passed in time.

The Supreme Court agreed to a four-month extension on the year it had given Parliament to enact legislation responding to its landmark ruling lifting the ban on doctor-assisted dying.

Medical regulators in every province have issued guidelines for physicians on providing assistance in dying. Those guidelines impose safeguards similar to — and in some cases, even stronger than — those proposed in C-14.