Quebec has shot straight to the top of the league table for euthanasia. According to projections published in the Daily Mail, more than 7% of all deaths in the province were medically assisted.

Journalist James Reinl reported: “nearly 5,000 people opted for assisted suicides last year even as the Canadian province’s officials make it easier for the terminally ill to end their lives. Nearly 8 percent of all deaths in Quebec are assisted suicides — far higher than Canada’s other provinces and even such countries as Belgium and the Netherlands, which have much older euthanasia laws.”

According to an article in AFP, “Since introducing the option in 2015, the number of assisted deaths in the province has outpaced the rest of Canada (3.3 percent), as well as the Netherlands (4.8 percent) and Belgium (2.3 percent) which have older euthanasia laws.”

And Quebec politicians are determined to make it even easier to access euthanasia. Earlier this month legislation was passed to allow people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, to make advance directives before their mental competence degrades and they become unable to make a formal request euthanasia.

The new law also allows Quebecers to receive a doctor-assisted death in places other than hospitals, such as funeral homes and long-term care facilities. Nurses will be able to administer the lethal injection, too. However, MAID must not be promoted for profit and no fees can be charged.

Some critics of the new law remarked upon how easily it passed through the Quebec legislature. The vote for 103 in favour, 2 opposed and one abstention.