Mr. Speaker, November is diabetes month and more than 550,000 Quebeckers live with this disease.
Diabetes is of concern to me because I have a son who is a type 1, insulin-dependent diabetic.
There is no cure for this disease and it has a very high economic cost, estimated at $2 billion a year in Quebec and $13 billion in Canada.
The socio-economic impact of diabetes is also a harsh reality for diabetics. They are denied access to certain professions or often lose their jobs. Their families are more often in crisis as a result.
Canada has one of the highest incidences of juvenile diabetes in the world. Conversely, it is significantly behind in terms of government support for research into this disease.
In handing out billions of pre-election dollars, did the Prime Minister perhaps forget a gift for people with diabetes?