Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome MP Manly to the committee. I appreciate his voice, his viewpoints and his terms of reference, as just stated.
I respectfully oppose this amendment. The bill, as currently written, ensures that individuals are offered consultations with relevant professionals for appropriate services, while at the same time respecting the autonomy of patients to decide whether or not to pursue advice, information or services that may be suggested or offered to them. In addition, Madam Chair, the bill requires that they be informed of the means available to relieve their suffering, that they give serious consideration to those means and that they be offered consultations with professionals who provide that care.
The proposed amendment would force competent persons whose death is not reasonably foreseeable to undertake every consultation proposed to them in order to be eligible for MAID. For those reasons, I respectfully oppose the amendment.
Thank you.