Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a national volunteer-based charity led and supported by more than 140,000 volunteers and close to two million donors. The aim of the foundation is to create healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. We do this through the advancement of research and the promotion of healthy living.
We've come a long way since my grandfather suffered a heart attack many years ago. At that time he was put on enforced bedrest and only allowed to sit upright in a chair after a month. Only 15 years ago when someone had a stroke they were transported to the local hospital in an ambulance with no lights or siren on, and were told there was nothing that could be done.
Today a stroke is treated as a medical emergency. The ambulance quickly transports the person to the right hospital set up to handle strokes. Following an immediate CT scan or MRI, if a clot is present the person is given TPA and is often able to leave the hospital within days with no significant disabilities. It is the $1.4 billion in research funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the leadership of the foundation and our partners that have made these changes possible.
Despite an impressive 75% reduction in the death rate from heart disease and stroke over the last 60 years, every seven minutes someone in Canada still dies from heart disease or stroke. That's unacceptable. It amounts to more than 66,000 deaths a year. That's unacceptable.
Heart disease and stroke are the leading cause of hospitalizations and the second leading cause of death in Canada. We clearly have much more to do.
Despite the shocking statistics, further investment in cardiovascular research has stalled. I'm before you today to seek a partnership with the federal government and our partner organizations to: one, sustain Canada's leadership in heart disease and stroke research to improve health, reduce death, lower health care costs, and improve Canada's overall productivity; two, launch programs to reduce vascular dementia; and three, improve the health of indigenous people.
With regard to cardiovascular research, we're looking for an investment of $30 million annually from the federal government to match funds that we have committed. This federal investment would be managed in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. What's the opportunity here? In addition to saving lives and improving Canadians' quality of life, this investment would create high-value jobs. Some 70% of the funds would go toward job creation. It would also help to attract and retain young researchers in the field.
We're also working with the YMCA, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and the Canadian Diabetes Association to have the federal government help address the prevention of dementia. The connection between cardiovascular disease and dementia is undisputed. In older adults, vascular disease is implicated in 80% of people with cognitive dementia, cognitive impairment. An investment here would reduce the risk factors that impact vascular dementia and many other conditions. Delaying the onset of dementia by five years could decrease the prevalence of the disease by as much as 44%, reducing health care costs, increasing productivity, and improving quality of life.
For this initiative we're seeking an investment of $20 million annually. Partnering with the foundation would also be consistent with the government's focus on healthy living, its recently released national research and prevention plan for dementia, and the announcement made by Minister of Health Rona Ambrose last Wednesday.
Dementia-related diseases currently cost the economy an estimated $33 billion a year. This figure is expected to soar to $293 billion by 2040. Our initiative will combat this prediction.
As a third initiative, the foundation is also working with the Canadian Diabetes Association and the YMCA on a plan to improve indigenous people's cardiovascular health. Indigenous people are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease and have a higher proportion of CVD risk factors. This simply can't continue, and we have programs that can help.
We have been in discussions with indigenous groups, and they're very enthusiastic about our commitment to work with them. We believe that an investment of $50 million annually will be needed to support locally based programs that build capacity and improve health.
Mr. Chair, thank you. I look forward to the questions and discussion with the honourable members.