A Quebec justice has given the federal government another delay to bring medical assistance in dying legislation in line with a 2019 ruling the province’s Superior Court.   

The new deadline to pass the proposed bill is February 26.    

The development comes as the Trudeau government’s representative in the upper chamber; Senator Marc Gold, admits the Senate won’t complete its consideration of Bill C-7 until mid-February, which is well past the previous court-imposed deadline that was set to expire Friday.

The legislation is intended to bring the law into compliance with a ruling last year, when another judge struck down the provision in the law that permits medically assisted death only for those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

That’s when Ottawa was given six months to bring the law in line, however the court later agreed to two extensions, given disruptions to Parliament caused first by last fall’s election and COVID.