Thank you.
One of the challenges that we see is availability of health care. I asked the Library of Parliament to provide a percentage of availability of a family physician, province by province. In a number of areas it's extremely high in terms of Canadians not having access even to a family doctor. There was a previous discussion that in a physician-assisted death, a person should be referred by their family doctor to be considered, but many Canadians do not have access.
We also heard from the CMA. One of the physicians said in the CMA report that “My greatest fear is that people end up having easier access to lethal injection than palliative care....” We heard that it's only 30%, and that 70% of Canadians do not have access to palliative care. Access to palliative care will be different from province to province.
Highlighting on access to palliative care, one of the physicians said that “Negative self-perception and concerns about being a burden to others can often lead patients to consider physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia.” If one of the possible causes for people to consider physician-assisted death is that they do not have access to good palliative care—and it's different throughout Canada, and you're suggesting a federal regime—would you envision a federal regime whereby a euthanologist or a specialist who would assist or guide a person through suicide, or provide voluntary euthanasia, would be licensed federally within that regime?