OTTAWA, June 8 (Reuters) – Quebec is expanding its program of assisted medical death and will become the first Canadian province to allow sick people to put in an advance request for help in dying before they become incapacitated.
The measure will permit people suffering from Alzheimer’s and other serious diseases to apply for assistance in ending their lives while they are still deemed to be in control of their faculties.
The move could set up a clash with the federal government, which drew up the law on medical assistance in dying. Quebec Health Minister Sonia Belanger said she planned to have talks with Ottawa, given the law as it currently stands does not allow advance requests of the kind Quebec has approved.
Quebec was able to expand the program because while the federal government is responsible for the Criminal Code, provinces are largely in control of healthcare.
A spokesperson for federal Justice Minister David Lametti said the government
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