Mr. Speaker, I am going to try to recover from that. It is a good thing I wrote down a few words, because I have a lot to say tonight. My goal is for those who do not want to listen to me to leave the chamber. They can listen to my speech again tomorrow morning when they are feeling good and ready to hear about the beauty of life and something that is part of life.
I will start with this. As we have said many times this evening, Quebec is ahead of the curve when it comes to these matters. It has been 10 years since the Quebec National Assembly passed medical assistance in dying, based on the work of the Select Committee on Dying with Dignity.
Dignity is about respect for the individual. Dignity is the foundation of the issue we are talking about. Neither partisanship nor any creation dictates who we are. We are talking about human dignity.
I hope that my colleague who just left and who had another point of view on the issue will have the opportunity to listen to the interpretation of my speech. This is a very sensitive issue. It is a social issue with serious consequences. That is why it is important. That is why the work that my colleague did and that the entire special joint committee did is important. They realized that there was a little something missing to ensure that there are no flaws in the process concerning the choice of our lives. We are talking about dying, but it is our life. Who can make decisions about our life?
It is vital to understand that society as it is today is moving forward much more quickly than legislators are. That is a fact, so we have to have the courage to act. We took an extra year. What concerns me is that we cannot know where we will be in three years. Can we get a guarantee on that promise? When my constituents talk to me about promises, they say that they will believe it when they see it. People are suffering now. We need to act now.
I am addressing all of my colleagues. Let us get this straight.
I am sorry to bother my colleagues, but what I am saying is very important. It is late and we are all going to bed soon. I am sorry, but this issue affects me deeply.