Mr. Speaker, earlier today I discussed with my hon. colleague for Kitchener—Conestoga his suggestion that a mandatory palliative care consultation ought to be required prior to the process that is contemplated in the law to physicians or nurse practitioners signing-off on an assisted death request. That is an excellent proposal.
We do have a shortage of these practitioners in Canada. The fact is that I can get a prescription right now electronically from someone who is not in the same room as me. Some kind of provision could be made for this. A budget could be provided for it. Right now, zero dollars have been provided for it, and I do not think the palliative care initiative that the government has talked about deals with this kind of consultation, which would be preferable.
In many cases, it might be a conclusion that it is not available in one's area, but at least no one would die uninformed. Also, I think it would create pressure from relatives to start making better or more widely accessible palliative care. It is an excellent idea. If it is not incorporated into the legislation, then it should be incorporated in a later bill, which would amend the act.
With regard to the issue of conscience rights, here is the problem. The right to request that one's death be caused, the right to end one's own life as a part of the right to life in section 7 of the charter, now that the courts have interpreted that right this way, imposes an obligation on others who are in a position of being state actors or semi-state actors. This would require them to assist a person. They cannot withhold this right from a person. Seeing as doctors are people who have a monopoly over health care because of their position, which is created by the state, they may be forced, unless there is a specific provision in the law, to provide that care. That is the danger, and I hope it will be corrected in amendments to the bill.