Quebecers Overwhelmingly Call for Assisted Suicide Guidelines

Most people in Quebec voice support for a regulation that would permit a form of doctor-assisted suicide in the province, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative sample of 804 Quebecers, 86 per cent of respondents support enacting legislation aimed at allowing doctors to help some terminally ill patients end their lives.

A provincial panel of legal experts recently recommended establishing guidelines to deal with medically assisted end-of-life procedures. Only one-in-ten Quebecers (10%) are opposed to this idea, while four per cent are undecided.

It is important to note that supporters of the three main political parties in Quebec are in favour of the idea, including 84 per cent of those who voted for the Liberal Party in the 2012 provincial election, 86 per cent of those who supported the Coalition Avenir Québec, and 93 per cent of those who backed the governing Parti Québécois.

An Angus Reid Public Opinion survey on the topic of euthanasia conducted in 2010 showed that 78 per cent of Quebecers supported the legalization of euthanasia in Canada, by far the largest proportion in any Canadian region and 15 points higher than the national average (63%).

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

Methodology: From February 4 to February 5, 2013, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 804 randomly selected Quebec adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Quebec. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.


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