- and some of the horrific stories of its ultra-permissive policy will horrify you

Winston Churchill famously reassured the U.S. that its long northern border was 'guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations'.

And generations of US leaders have tended to agree – there's nothing to worry about from solid and reliably uncontroversial Canada.

Until now, that is.

Anyone who ever thought that the compassionate response to extreme human suffering is a society that helps people find permanent release from their pain may want to look at some of the horror stories coming out of Canada recently.

To be clear, euthanasia laws in the US are nothing like those of its neighbor to the north. But American acceptance of the practice has been growing for decades despite warnings that legalized suicide is a slippery slope toward a calamitous debasement of human life.

Canada, a country that prides itself on its open-mindedness and tolerance, has the most permissive rules on euthanasia in the world – and the results have been frankly terrifying.