Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question.
He definitely must have read the report produced by the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying, which recommends taking a long, hard look at palliative care and developing a policy on the issue.
Because of the Carter decision, time is of the essence. To respond to the Carter case meant responding to medical assistance in dying based on the charter and the Criminal Code, which prohibited medical assistance in dying. Palliative care was not the crux of the debate in Carter, although everyone seems to agree that we need to think carefully about this service and provide it for Canadians.