Dig into the deep historic roots of Canada and you will find the Blessed Virgin Mary, both in name and spirit.

In a strict party lines vote, a bill that would have shielded doctors and other health care providers from punishment for refusing to refer their patients on for assisted suicide was voted down at Queen’s Park on May 18.

Armed with letters of support from religious community leaders, plus the official positions of the Ontario, Canadian and American Medical Associations, health care professionals descended on Queen’s Park May 18 in support of a Progressive Conservative private members’ bill that would shield doctors from punishment by the College of Physicians and Surgeons and other regulatory bodies if they refuse to refer for medically assisted suicide

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled, Parliament has legislated and provinces have set up new systems. For most Canadians the assisted suicide debate is last year’s news story. But Cardinal Gerhard Müller, head of the Catholic Church’s theological watchdog-agency, begs to differ.

Ontario will have a one-stop-shop service for people weighing their end-of-life options — palliative care, hospice care, home care or assisted suicide — up and running by June 1, a government spokesperson has told The Catholic Register.

The Office for Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto has been forced to suspend all new applications to sponsor refugees for the rest of this year due to persistent backlogs in government processing.

A balanced budget with investments sprinkled across education, health care and welfare — including the surprise pharmacare program for anyone 24 and younger — has given faith communities in Ontario plenty to chew on.

Pope Francis visited Egypt for two days and for two days he made Egypt his platform.

Mystics, missionaries and martyrs helped found the Church in Canada. Their lives of faith, their dreams, their failures and successes set the template for who we are meant to be. Which is why a summer pilgrimage to the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont., can be more than a pleasant Sunday outing.

TORONTO – Helping poor people is a lousy business model.