Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be supporting the motion, and I appreciate the Member for bringing this forward. I, too, have had many constituents come to me in a situation of having a family member in a critical state, you know, in another province or in another place and not having a way to get to them. And I've also had, you know, medical practitioners coming to me and imploring me that something needs to be done because in their view too, especially if someone gets to a point where an end of life decision needs to be made, you know, their family members, their loved ones, need to be there with them and helping to make that decision. And I think medical practitioners themselves know that as well as any of the rest of us.
I do understand the Minister's point that it's impractical and often unsafe for an escort to be physically in the ambulance or in a -- like, a medevac helicopter or something with the patient. I can understand that that may not work. But I wonder if a policy, the policy that's being asked for, could accommodate other ways to be able to send, you know, a family member an escort through other means of transportation to then arrive and then be able to be with that patient. So I'm hopeful that other ways can be found to make this happen in a practical and safe way that acknowledges the need.
I mean, I'll also point out the -- I don't know if it's an irony but sort of counterintuitive nature that if someone is well enough to be able to go on medical travel through, say, a regular commercial flight, then they might be eligible for a medical escort but as soon as their condition gets worse to the point where they actually need a medevac, then suddenly they're not eligible to have the escort when they may need that person there, you know, if they're flying to Edmonton, more than ever. And so in that way, the way we currently have it structured just doesn't make sense. And so I would urge the Minister to look at this. I know it's going to cost money, as things do, but I do believe that this is an important area to look at to the folks that are community members who are, you know, in their -- the most difficult and challenging situations that one can face for one's self and one's family members. So I appreciate, once again, the Member for raising this, and I look forward the work that can happen to improve the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.