Mr. Speaker, the consultations have been broad. The joint committee heard from over 60 witnesses and received over 100 different briefs. Over the next week, my colleagues and I will hear from 42 witnesses. We have yet to determine the number of briefs that we will receive, but I expect it will exceed the number of witnesses who we are hearing. We are getting a broad variety of opinions from faith groups, medical associations, individuals, and bar associations.
The other issue that my hon. friend brought up was conscience rights, and whether they can be enshrined. This is a Criminal Code amendment at its core. This law would not compel physicians to do anything. We have to respect the jurisdiction of the provinces and the provinces regulate medical professions and so do the independent colleges of physicians and surgeons and colleges of nurses, and so on and so forth. We have to respect the rights of the provinces to legislate in that regard.