Ottawa willing to talk assisted suicide, but won’t legalize it: Ambrose

TORONTO – Health Minister Rona Ambrose says she is willing to talk to her provincial and territorial counterparts about assisted suicide, but insists Ottawa has no plans to legalize it.

Ambrose made the comments in Toronto where she is expected to meet with the other health ministers Friday.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said last week that Canadians need to have a conversation about the emotionally charged subject, whether the federal government wants to deal with the issue or not.

The issue resurfaced recently after a prominent Toronto doctor made an impassioned, videotaped appeal to legalize assisted suicide just a few days before his death.

Dr. Donald Low, who guided Toronto through the 2003 SARS crisis, asked that Canada allow people to die with dignity, eight days before he died from a brain tumour last month, at age 68.

The Quebec government is already holding public hearings on proposed legislation which would outline the conditions necessary for someone to get medical assistance to die.