We wholeheartedly support any initiative that will get Canadians talking about the right of the terminally ill to decide how they might die with dignity.
It's an issue that has been circled around and avoided for far too long.
Some commentators have suggested this week that the Conservative government should address the issue head-on instead of leaving it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
This is clearly wishful thinking.
We doubt we are going out on a limb here when we say the Tories won't be touching this one in public any time in the next four years.
It's instructive to note that at a June Conservative policy conference immediately after the federal election, one of the motions on the floor read: "The Conservative Party will not support any legislation to legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide in Canada."
It was then withdrawn at the party's behest - sheesh, don't even talk about it.
The truth is that this emotionally charged issue will carry no political currency without a large segment of Canadian voters clamouring for a change.
We hope aging Boomers will supply that political push. After all, this is the generation that has tinkered more with social engineering and the protection of individual rights than any other in history.
Studies of other jurisdictions that allow assisted suicide show no slippery slope to huge numbers of such deaths.
This is a fundamental issue that speaks to the core of what it means to be human and to have the right to one's own body and life.
Ignoring it - because it's controversial or politically dicey -won't make it go away. Let's bring the issue out of the closet and talk about such matters as justifiable grounds, safeguards and the right to change one's mind.
