Thank you for the question.
You are right to point out that physician-assisted dying may require a number of interventions from the Government of Canada. I want to emphasize that, whatever the Government of Canada's interventions may be, it is obviously desirable for the provinces and territories to collaborate. I would go as far as to say that the principle of cooperative federalism—which is found in many Supreme Court decisions and is an extremely healthy principle for applying Canadian federalism—must be at the core of this Parliament's intervention.
The most urgent step without a doubt would be to amend the Criminal Code of Canada in order to comply with the Carter decision. However, I have to say that, even if Parliament failed to do so, the Carter decision would prevail as soon as the stay of the application of decision expired. That means the ruling would apply as of June 6 of this year. On that date, the Carter decision will be applicable in Canada. The provisions of the Criminal Code, even if they were not amended by this Parliament based on the Carter decision, will have to be interpreted as inoperative given that they prohibit physician-assisted death, while the conditions set out by the Supreme Court of Canada are, of course, respected.
That being said, I would say the big question is what kind of leadership the federal government will want or have to show when it comes to physician-assisted dying. Many Canadians are calling for the federal government to play that role. Some Canadians even want consistency in terms of physician-assisted dying measures.
However, as you pointed out, provincial jurisdiction is important in this case. Of course, I think that any kind of federal leadership will have to take into account the provincial presence and will even have to be reconciled with the presence and involvement of the provinces.