OTTAWA, September 8, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ottawa Citizen reported today that Canadians are divided on the issue of euthanasia with 49 percent supporting legalization and 37% opposed. The latest Pollara survey of 1,263 Canadians was conducted Aug. 5-7. Michael Marzolini, the president of Pollara, which conducted the poll, said that with the high profile of a host of different moral issues in the media, now is a good time to be surveying Canadian attitudes. “People have been re-evaluating their attitudes to many of these issues.” A poll taken by Polara in 1997, the same year Robert Latimer was sentenced to life in prison, showed 60% support for the legalization of doctor assisted suicide. Twelve year old Tracy Latimer was murdered by her father because she suffered from Cerebral Palsy. At the time, newspapers across the country ran columns calling Tracy a “vegetable” and lauding her murderer as a “hero of mercy”. The poll showed that more men than women favoured legalizing euthanasia, and that support was, predictably, highest in ultra-liberal Quebec and lowest in the Maritimes.
However, when the questions came closer to home, the responses were less liberal. When asked if they themselves had ever discussed with friends or family euthanasia or assisted suicide for themselves, only 33 per cent responded yes, compared to 66 per cent who said no. See the Ottawa Citizen coverage: https://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=d57466d8-0d18-4b69-a8a3-be93227370bd