Justice committee  Yes. In Canada you cannot force a physician to do anything. I am aware of a physician who refused to see people who smoked. There was nothing the college could do. It was his choice. What we have to make sure of is that people are not denied their charter rights, and that is the concern I raised earlier about section 141(1)(b).

Justice committee  Yes. That is what I'm saying. I'm saying use the wording of the Supreme Court decision. Then you know for sure you're in coherence with the Supreme Court decision and the charter. If there's a question about any of the definitions, kick it back to the Supreme Court and get a definition from it.

Justice committee  As I mentioned before, the government bill in many ways mirrors the private member's bill I introduced, including in terms of this 15-day waiting period. My thoughts have evolved since introducing that to say that advance care directives should be allowed. So it should be 15 days at a minimum, but there's nothing to say that it couldn't be 20 years or 30 years, on one hand.

Justice committee  Maybe 4.25 days. I don't know. It depends on you all. There should be a delay, but two weeks plus a day is probably too much, and 24 hours is probably not enough, so somewhere in that range. For the pain and suffering, when you're in pain, and there's no hope to come back, and there is the terror of drowning in your own phlegm, and there's no hope, why would we wait?

Justice committee  I'm okay with that because that creates doubt in the person's intent, and if there is significant doubt you'd probably have to err on the side of life. It's situational and very dependent, but if someone indicates they do not want the procedure to take place, even at the last moment, the procedure should not take place.

Justice committee  The sanctity of life.... Wow, that is a very profound question, and way above my pay grade. I think that's between an individual and their Maker. We just hope that as legislative people we make the best decisions possible. Life is precious, but life can be terrible too. You'll recall that a few years ago I had fairly major surgery.

Justice committee  —the fact is that there wasn't any and I was able to move on. I'm disabled enough. Life is tough, and I know it can be a lot tougher. I'm lucky relative to many other people. I thank God every day that I am a Canadian and live in a great community that supports someone like me, but that isn't always there, and there are people who suffer much more than I do.

Justice committee  Well, Ted, I thought we were friends, but after a question like that.... Look, I think collecting empirical evidence is important. If the empirical evidence shows that maybe some of the assumptions that have been made are wrong, it could go both ways. This is not a normal issue or a normal piece of legislation.

Justice committee  Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairperson. Thank you everyone for the opportunity to comment on Bill C-14. My comments are going to be brief and focused on the bill. I've already spoken in front of the joint committee, and I initiated some private members' bills in the previous Parliament on this issue.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  What the member is referring to is that between the request and the action, I put in a 14-day span, so if the individual in any way said that they wanted to live, that would nullify the physician-assisted death request. Some people wanted it to be seven days or 24 hours, and some people wanted it to be years, but this is one of the key issues.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Legislation is not necessary. The Supreme Court ruling stands on its own: you have to be 18 and a cognitive adult. There are all sorts of other issues that the Supreme Court took into consideration when making these decisions. I suggest that everyone on the committee read the Supreme Court decision and the references.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  You'll get a better answer.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  Access delayed is access denied. There are many caveats and many obstacles that were described by the CCD, which, by the way, is a great organization. They have done great work, but on this.... I'm not in Parliament now, but I've been in Parliament long enough to know that Ottawa could really screw this up by putting in too much red tape and by making assumptions about what people feel about life and what quality of life is.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  I would, though in my bill.... Of course, you could always take the wording in my bill and just insert it. It's very well worded.

Physician-Assisted Dying committee  There is a review in it that would take away anyone who has a vested interest in having someone pass on. That includes family or the institution a person may be in. You don't want the institution saying, “Well, we need to clear out bed 15.” There has to be an arm's-length process, I believe, but I don't think it's up to Ottawa to decide.