I think this is an absolute necessity. Our concerns are that some provinces may not entertain legislation. In the absence of legislation on this very important social policy, both physicians and patients will be left in limbo with a significant amount of uncertainty. That will be filled in a way that is insufficient and provide unequal access. It's inappropriate for a patient in one jurisdiction to have access that is different from the access available to a patient in another part of this country. Therefore, the federal legislation will guarantee that the legislative requirements are fulfilled and that patients will have a consistent approach across the country to access physician-assisted dying. We hope that the provinces' legislation, where they entertain to do it, will be sufficiently similar, so that the federal legislation will not supplant the provincial legislation in those provinces that actually do the legislation.
On February 4th, 2016. See this statement in context.