Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I want to start again by thanking the witnesses and paying tribute to the people from the disability community and their advocates. No change for disadvantaged groups ever comes without the very hard work and very principled stands taken by those people from their own community and from their advocates.
Of course, it's still my hope that these broader issues that are being raised will be dealt with in the statutory review of MAID legislation, because I think they have implications far beyond the narrow focus of Bill C-7.
That said, I have a couple of specific questions. My first question is for Monsieur Racicot.
Given that medical services are quite often limited in rural and remote communities, the question of referrals becomes a question of access to services for many Canadians. You were very clear that you believe that the duty to refer should not apply in the case of medical assistance in dying. Is that a consistent opinion you share for all medical services, or is this specific to medical assistance in dying? In other words, based on their beliefs, can physicians refuse to refer in other areas or is this specific to medical assistance in dying?