Mr. Speaker, based on what the member and others have said, it seems there is a consensus emerging, at least from the different opposition parties, about the need to have clearer and better protection of conscience. The Liberals say this is important to them. Why not put it in the legislation, exactly as the member talked about, using the model of the Civil Marriage Act?
I would caution the member on putting too much stock in the special joint committee. I know the member was not part of that process, but my big concern was that there was a real bias in terms of the witnesses who were able to present and the witnesses who were not able to present. Just one example is that we had three separate panels from the organization Dying with Dignity. However, many intervenors on the other side of the issue, people who actually intervened in the Carter decision and presented to the federal expert panel, were not able to participate in the special joint committee. I understand, from what I have heard so far, that the justice committee is looking at a more balanced group of witnesses and I really appreciate that. However, I would caution the member to consider the process that led to that result, and hopefully we will see a more balanced group of witnesses from the justice committee.
On the issue of advance directives, the big problem with advance directives is that those are used in very specific situations where the outcomes and all the elements can be predicted in advance. The problem is that it is very difficult to predict what exactly will happen to someone undergoing one of these illnesses or how the individual will respond to it. I wonder if the member can talk about the problems of using advance directives when there is not certainty at all about the kind of process that a person is going to go through or how that person is going to experience that at that time.