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QUEBEC – Quebec’s landmark right-to-die bill has been adopted following a free vote at the national assembly.

Bill 52 passed on Thursday afternoon by a 94-22 margin, with no abstentions.

The legislation is officially dubbed “an act respecting end-of-life care.”

Bill 52 stipulates that patients themselves would have to repeatedly ask a doctor to end their lives on the basis of unbearable physical or psychological suffering. They would have to be deemed mentally sound at the time of the requests.

The federal government has said it could challenge the legality of the legislation.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia are illegal under Canada’s Criminal Code and Ottawa has insisted it has no intention of changing that.

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