Mr. Speaker, indeed, I think the member for Kitchener—Conestoga has it right. There are a variety of ways that people die and there are people who have been very clear about having a “do not resuscitate” order or that no heroic measures be taken.
However, there also comes a time when certain people have reached the end and physicians are working with them. There is a covenant. There is a sacred covenant, I believe, between our physicians and patients that allow them to understand that the role of the physician is to end suffering. It is not necessarily to prolong life. There are certain times when the natural course of life is taking too long for people who are suffering.
There was a case in Quebec recently where someone did not meet the bar because their death was not in the foreseeable future. They had to actually starve themselves, stop taking food, stop taking water, for 53 days, until they were finally allowed to pass away, as people say these days. I think that is unfair, and the Supreme Court has ruled that unfair.
The reality is that the Supreme Court has said it both allows for physicians to assist people in dying and for people to take that upon themselves with physicians helping them. I am proud to live in a country that is that compassionate.