Nicole Demers

[Committees of the House, April 19th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I listened closely to my colleague's speech. As he said so well, the current government is procrastinating a great deal when it comes to health for Canadians and Quebeckers.

In that case, does my colleague not think it would be better for the provinces to develop their own fetal alcohol syndrome strategies that would respond to their own problems? Would this not be better than developing a strategy that might never be implemented because it comes from the federal government?

[Gilles Moreau, April 18th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, Gilles Moreau, a Laval police lieutenant, was recently named inspector to head the ethics section at the Laval police headquarters.

Mr. Moreau is a man of heart, integrity and passion, who has won the trust and affection of the community he has been protecting for over 28 years, not to mention the respect of his fellow officers.

Wherever he has been, he has helped to bring the police and the public closer together. His tireless devotion has won him numerous honours, including the medal he received to mark 20 years of exemplary conduct as a police officer.

I am proud to salute the dedication, professionalism and generosity of officer Gilles Moreau, who has never been afraid to show his humanity as he went about his work with enthusiasm and an open mind.

[Exports, April 14th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, April 7 was the date the MercadOr awards were given out. They recognize the success of exporters in the regions of Laval, the Laurentians and Lanaudière. They are the initiative of Laval Technopole Export, Laurentides International and Lanaudière International.

On that evening, five businesses from Laval received awards: Dynacom Technologie and Warnex, in the new exporter category; Éclairage Vertex and Duo Vac, for market diversification; and, finally, DBM Reflex, which took the leading exporter award.

Laval is one of Quebec's leaders in exports. Over 35% of Laval industries had sales abroad in 2004.

I congratulate the five Laval businesses on their great success, which contributes to our city's reputation worldwide.

[Sponsorship Program, April 12th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, the PMO sets up the sponsorship program; the finance minister allocates money to it; the Treasury Board President closes her eyes; the PMO selects the projects; the friends of the Liberal Party pocket the money; the organizers take their cut; and the Liberal Party gets rich.

Does that not sum up the whole Liberal Party of Canada food chain?

[Guylaine Legault, April 7th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, at the ninth annual merit awards gala of the Quebec cooperative movement, held on February 10, Guylaine Legault was honoured with the title of 2004 co-op employee.

With this award, the Coopérative de développement régional Montréal-Laval recognized the exceptional career of Guylaine Legault, who worked her way up the ladder to the position of regional vice-president for Laval-Laurentides, at the Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec.

Among her many achievements, she has served as president of the Laval chamber of commerce and industry and president of the United Way campaign, as well as numerous fundraising campaigns.

A model and an inspiration for all women, she has mastered the art of blending work and family, while remaining genuine and committed.

Congratulations, Guylaine.

[Centre de réadaptation Lisette-Dupras in Lachine, March 24th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, last year during Quebec's intellectual disability week, the leader of the Bloc Québécois visited an exhibition presented by the Centre de réadaptation Lisette-Dupras in Lachine. The hon. member for Laurier—Sainte-Marie was so impressed by what artists with intellectual disabilities could achieve, that he invited them to come to the House of Commons and show us their works.

The readaptation centre not only helps to integrate these people into society but also helps them develop independence and skills, while providing them with an opportunity to explore the world of aestheticism.

The Bloc Québécois invites all members of this House to visit this magnificent exhibition entitled “Imagination without Borders”, presented in collaboration with the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, in room 215 of the Wellington Building until 5 p.m. today. This is a unique opportunity to listen to these artists tell us about their works.

Congratulations to all of them.

[Semaine des travailleuses et des travailleurs sociaux du Québec, March 21st, 2005]

Madam Speaker, last week was dedicated to the social workers of Quebec. There are more than 6,000 social workers in every region of Quebec working with individuals, families, groups and communities to provide them with the tools to achieve their maximum potential in their day to day lives.

They work at solving relationship difficulties and personal crises. Social workers clarify the needs of their clientele, identify the source of their problems and find solutions, or provide referrals to the appropriate resources.

As the Bloc Québécois critic for the family and caregivers, I would like to thank the social workers, who improve the quality of life for thousands of families and individuals.

[The Budget, March 8th, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, this budget has left me speechless. I have listened to my colleague. This budget has deprived thousands of women of their voice, and this I feel needs pointing out on this International Women's Day.

Older women will not get any increase in the guaranteed income supplement before 2006, and then it will be $18 a month. Single mothers will have no help in finding accommodation; women aged 45 or 50 who lose their jobs will have nothing, because there is nothing in this budget for them either.

I represent these women who are today without a voice. I ask my colleague whether he will give me and all those women a voice, by voting against this budget?

[Martin Gagné, February 21st, 2005]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate Martin Gagné on helping Canada win gold at the 9th NFL Global Junior Championship when Canada won against the United States 38 to 35.

He also won a spot on the all-tournament team as one of the best defensive linemen.

Fabreville's Martin Gagné played for Curé Antoine-Labelle high school. He was the number one draft pick in Quebec. It is just one more honour in a career that should continue with the Carabins at Université de Montréal or the Rouge et Or at Université Laval.

His strength of character and determination cannot help but be an inspiration to all young football players. I also want to congratulate all the Laval football associations for their excellent work with all their young players. Bravo, Martin Gagné.

[Alzheimer's Disease, February 16th, 2005]

Madam Speaker, as a member of the Standing Committee on Health and critic for the family and caregivers, I want to express my opinion on this motion.

I would like to begin by reminding the House that January is Alzheimer Awareness Month, as my hon. colleague surely already knows.

In Canada, 280,000 people over 65 years old are affected by Alzheimer disease. That is, one person in 20. It is predicted that, by 2031, more than 750,000 people will have Alzheimer disease or related dementias.

In addition, it is a degenerative disease that causes lesions in the brain. The brain cells shrink or disappear and are replaced by irregular spots called plaques. This disease causes a gradual and irreversible degeneration of cognitive functions such as memory, orientation, judgment, language, and the ability to learn new things. The most terrible aspect of this disease is that one becomes the parent of the person, no longer their child, and worse, unable to express love for that person, who no longer understands.

Every year, $5.5 billion is spent in Canada on persons with Alzheimer disease and related dementias. The annual social cost of caring for an individual varies from $9,000 for a person with the mild form of the disease to $37,000 for a person with the severe form. Those are annual figures.

There is talk here of creating a national strategy on Alzheimer disease. Here is another federal attempt at encroaching on provincial jurisdictions, by acting directly in a field related to health. The Liberal government must understand that health is a provincial matter and that, at present, Quebec and the other provinces have considerable expertise in the field and have succeeded in developing unique forms of care.

A national policy is not what residential care centres need; they need funds to apply the strategy that experts in the field have already developed. The same is true for caregivers, who ought to receive more recognition for their work, and who ought to receive a tax credit, for example, which would compensate them for their great devotion. The only way to achieve this is to return money for health to Quebec and the provinces in order to enable them to provide the best possible care for people suffering from this terrible disease.

To come back to caregivers, 50% of people suffering from dementia live at home and not at a home care facility; 97% of these people receive help from a caregiver—often the caregivers are women—while 30% of caregivers have a full-time job. I should also mention that 50% of these caregivers are over 60 and 36% are over 70. When I talk about caregivers over 70, I mean people who have been caring for a person with the illness for at least five years.

Spouse caregivers are less likely to have back-up support than others and yet are more likely to be caring for a person with dementia. Only 3.4 per cent of caregivers use the respite care designed to give the caregiver a break for a few hours.

I want to explain a little more about the various stages of the disease to illustrate how devastating it is and what it demands of the caregiver.

At the first stage there is no cognitive decline. The person receives the diagnosis but experiences no problems in daily living.

At the second stage there is very mild cognitive decline. The person starts to forget names and locations of objects. In some cases, they may have trouble finding words.

At the third stage there is mild cognitive decline. The person has difficulty travelling to new locations and handling problems at work.

At the fourth stage there is moderate cognitive decline. The person has difficulty with complex tasks such as finances, shopping, planning dinner.

At the fifth stage moderately severe cognitive decline sets in. The person needs help to choose clothing and needs prompting to bathe.

This is the stage at which major aggression develops, because the individual is aware of his or her cognitive losses and frustrated at needing someone else's help to accomplish these tasks.

By the sixth stage, the individual needs constant supervision, because more advanced cognitive problems are developing. He or she needs help in dressing and bathing, and has problems getting to the toilet. Incontinence may start developing.

Finally, in the seventh stage, when cognitive problems are now advanced, the individual is reduced to a limited vocabulary or to one-word answers, loses the ability to walk and to sit, along with the ability to smile. There is a total loss of autonomy.

Not surprisingly, caregivers develop chronic health problems. Depression is almost twice as frequent in caregivers of Alzheimer's patients as it is in other caregivers.

The caregivers are often elderly and have neither the ability or the means to look after a relative in stages five to seven of the disease. This is the point at which most start thinking about finding a placement for the individual.

Fortunately, Quebec has developed some advanced services tailored to these specific needs. The long term care hospitals, for instance, have special care units, and there are special residences such as Carpe Diem in Trois-Rivières.

The special care unit concept is designed especially for residents with Alzheimer's to help them adapt and retain their physical, psychological and social integrity as long as possible, by including them in daily living activities, with the amount of support appropriate to their stage of disease. The people in these units are treated with respect and dignity, moreover.

Then there are the community organizations specializing in services to patients and families. In Laval, for instance, we have the Alzheimer's Society, under the enlightened leadership of Mariette Chalifoux, which has developed a broad range of services for raising public awareness and providing information and training.

There is also the Baluchon Alzheimer respite service, which enables caregivers to take a break with peace of mind for a week or two, without having to move their relative to a different environment. A live-in caregiver comes to the home of the person and takes that opportunity to perform an assessment using various intervention strategies. In addition, we must not forget the significant contribution of the staff at Laval's Coopérative de soutien à domicile, who, through the technical support and the housekeeping, groceries, and laundry services they provide, support the caregiver, freeing up more time to spend with the person being cared for.

As hon. members can see, we already have a service strategy for Alzheimer's in Quebec. What would help, though, would be new money, because facilities like Carpe Diem and respite services are terribly short of money and are often underfunded because of the growing costs of health care.

A national policy whereby the same standards would be applied to the care of patients from coast to coast is not what we need; what we need is funding transfers to allow the provinces to implement their own solutions and, in particular, to enable them to provide personalized care, as required by the circumstances.

In this context, the Bloc Québécois is demanding that the Prime Minister's government correct the fiscal imbalance that is limiting the ability of the governments in Quebec and the provinces to invest more in residential care and caregiver services for people with Alzheimer's.

Tax fields have to be divided more equitably between Ottawa and Quebec and the provinces. This would enable the governments of Quebec and the provinces to diversify their own source revenues, fully assume their exclusive responsibility over health care and ensure that all Canadians receive the services they need.

Hon. members have no doubt gathered that we denounce the numerous intrusions in health care by the federal government. Therefore, while we believe that the federal government should make an extra effort in the areas of health care and medical research, we demand that additional approved funding be given to the governments of Quebec and the provinces with absolutely no strings attached.

That is why the Bloc Québécois is totally opposed to a national policy on Alzheimer's, and I encourage all my hon. colleagues to vote against this motion.