Again, I would look around the table and thank all members of this committee for the substantive discussions that have been had around Bill C-14 on medical assistance in dying.
To your question, the June 6 deadline of the Supreme Court of Canada is incredibly important, and our government is committed to doing everything we can to meet that deadline, recognizing where the proposed legislation is within the House of Commons, acknowledging the substantive work that senators have done in their pre-study phase, and recognizing the work that they will continue to do in considering Bill C-14. I would stress, again, the importance of meeting the June 6 deadline. We are doing everything we can to ensure that is the case. Not meeting the June 6 deadline, as you rightfully point out, would leave a vacuum in terms of the law, in terms of the application of medical assistance in dying in this country, with regard to eligibility. The court application process for exemptions would no longer exist. There would be no safeguards in place. Medical practitioners would have uncertainty around how the Carter ruling would be applied, and I think, further to that, in terms of patients who want to access medical assistance in dying, they would be limited in doing so, given the uncertainty that would exist. As you know, in this country, the only jurisdiction that has a law around assistance in dying is Quebec, so I am very committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to meet that June 6 deadline.