Petitions  The petitioners request that federal and provincial health ministers meet to discuss allowing testing and treatment for CCSVI in all Canadians who desire testing and treatment, and to plan and implement a nationwide clinical trial. I would also like to commend Amy Preston, a constituent of mine, who has worked so hard to bring attention to this important issue.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  There are many things that can cause CCSVI, so to understand why this treatment might work for some people and not for others one needs to know what the problem is. In order to do that you have to get experience in imaging people.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  This is the date on which we will announce the results of our CCSVI research competition, which was launched early in the new year. On June 14, after the review by a panel of experts--vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, MRI specialists, and neurologists--we will be announcing a series of research commitments to CCSVI research.

Health committee  I do not need the broader context. I would like to know specifically how much of the $16 million is being devoted to CCSVI, please—the number.

Health committee  I would like to also ask, who will be reviewing this? It's important, if we are going to look at CCSVI and the liberation treatment, that this include vascular researchers and not just neurologists. So who's on the review panel? I guess that's what I'm asking.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  At the same time, you can treat people with significant disease now. If they have significant CCSVIs demonstrated on an MRV and on a duplex scan, then they should be treated. [Applause]

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  During your presentation, you told us that, in your opinion, the only thing left to do was to sub-categorize the CCSVI patients. Could you expand a little more on that? In your view, what needs to be done and how long could a surgery like that take? Finally, why is it important to sub-categorize the patients?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  [Applause] My goal today is to actually show you images of jugular veins in people who have CCSVI. The abnormalities that we see are real. You don't need to be a physician to see them. Correction sometimes makes a difference in the lifestyle of these people. I believe the problem they have is easily treatable, safely treatable, treatable at low cost and at low risk to the patient.

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  The second thing is that many of the patients, in my understanding, and I stand to be corrected, have been continued on their regular medical therapies, many of which are being shown to have an effect on relapsing-remitting that is very similar to that being described for CCSVI. So I think it clouds the picture a little bit, when we....

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  Dr. McDonald, who will make the decision whether or not to image for CCSVI in Canada? What criteria have to be met? What timeline are we looking at? What is stopping you from performing this procedure today?

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease committee  If you ask the question of colleagues of yours who are physicians and researchers, they will tell you the evidence available for CCSVI, including the protocols for imaging, is in the early stages. That is why a number of medical associations, provincial bodies, and the Alberta Health Services Board have made the decision to not make available what is still an experimental treatment, in their view.