I think that the federal government should give the provinces considerable leeway to act on this issue, while perhaps legislating on matters such as age, which we discussed earlier. For instance, it could perhaps also legislate on the issue of residence requirements. In fact, if residence requirements varied from one province to another, there would be a risk of interprovincial tourism and perhaps even international tourism should a province lack residence requirements.
I feel that age and residence requirements are probably the two most obvious areas in which the federal government could potentially intervene. When we consider federal leadership or federal involvement, we can see a number of possibilities and scenarios.
In the first scenario, the federal government's involvement would be limited to the Criminal Code of Canada. So it would be fairly limited.
In the second scenario, an amendment would be made to the Criminal Code of Canada and to decisions of the Canadian Parliament, which would adopt measures on the eligibility and protection of vulnerable individuals. That would take matters much further.
In the third scenario, the federal government would adopt framework legislation in the hope that the provinces would support it. Another option would be to strongly encourage them to support it, or leave a lot of room for provinces and territories, since this is really about providing health care in physician-assisted dying, which basically comes under provincial jurisdiction.
I would like the federal government to leave a lot of room for the provinces. In matters like this one, I would hate to see the federal government becoming too involved because physician-assisted dying basically takes place in hospices, hospitals and palliative care hospices, which fundamentally come under provincial jurisdiction.
The vision Mr. Hogg has put forward is clearly that we can have a Canadian federalism. However, the vision I have been promoting for years is based on the existence of two levels of government in Canada, each with its own constitutional responsibilities, and not a single government.