Madam Speaker, I apologize for that. I obviously find this to be a very personal issue. I think it would have been best for the member not to say anything rather than try to defend himself.
I have been sitting here all day, since the House started at 10 o'clock. I have heard the arguments and I am responding to what I have heard. I heard a Conservative member talk about how wonderful it was to sing songs with their mother and then she slipped away in the night. It does not always happen like that. My father-in-law was a perfect example of this.
I want to be very clear, and this is where I was going before I was interrupted. I am not suggesting that my father-in-law would have chosen MAID. My father-in-law was a hunter, a real rugged man. He took on his responsibilities and took great pride in everything he did. I do not know if he would have selected MAID, but what I do know is that he did not have an option. He did not have the choice. Instead, people got to sit by his side and watch him suffer. Most importantly, he suffered.
I understand there are various positions on this on all sides of the House. I get that people can be charged by this. I am a Catholic and this goes against a lot of what many of my supporters and, in particular, my church would advocate for. However, I will say again, as I said at the start of my speech and will say at the end, that I strongly believe people need choices. When we have a world in which our medical system has advanced so much that we can literally keep people alive now who we could not 10 or 15 years ago, there have to be other options.
I hope I am never put in a position to contribute to making one of these decisions, but at least I take comfort in knowing that options need to be available to people. Unfortunately, the rhetoric that I have heard today does not support that.