Finance Committee on Oct. 19th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You can take a little more time.

[Jacqueline Landry]

Thank you.

[Jim Cormier]

I have a habit of going on.

[Jacqueline Landry]

I am a Parkinson's ambassador for the province of Nova Scotia. I'm representing Parkinson Canada. I also have juvenile onset Parkinson's disease with dystonia. I've been fighting this disease for 25 years.

I'll read from my presentation, because I got this brief quite late, as others have mentioned.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of the brain that impacts almost every aspect of daily living, including movement, mood, speech, the ability to smell, eating and drinking, and sleep. It also can cause cognitive changes. There is no known cure for Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson Canada recommends that the Government of Canada immediately commit to developing a Canadian action plan for brain health, with the primary aim of improving the life experience, productivity, and prosperity of the over 100,000 Canadians—including me—who are living with Parkinson's, the four million Canadians who are living with brain conditions, and their families. I also have epilepsy, which is another brain condition, so I am part of the four million and part of the 100,000 living with brain conditions.

For planning purposes, Parkinson Canada has estimated core costs of a Canadian action plan for brain health over three years, from April 2017 to March 2020, by three areas of expenditure.

The first area of expenditure is the Canadian brain council and brain summits. The Canadian brain council, once established, would develop the Canadian action plan for brain health, including the development of a national dementia strategy in year one. The council would also convene a brain summit in 2017, and a second summit in late 2019 or early 2020, to obtain input from the widest range of stakeholders possible. The estimated cost for this is $3.5 million over three years.

The second area of expenditure is epidemiological research and data collection. The Canadian brain council would review the findings about research gaps and data needs for mapping connections and other sources. It would recommend, if the evidence supports it, expanded data collection, the feasibility of creating a new pan-Canadian data collection survey for brain conditions, and funding needs for targeted research on risk factors for brain conditions. Expenditures would likely occur in years two and three. The estimated cost would be $22 million over three years.

The third area of expenditure is investigator-driven basic brain research through CIHR, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Far too little is known about the causes, prevention, and treatment of most brain conditions. Thanks to research, innovative therapies are available for some brain conditions. Unfortunately, many others remain untreatable. Canada needs to invest more in basic brain research. Parkinson Canada believes that this is best done by increased annual funding to investigator-driven basic brain research through the CIHR at a rate of $150 million per year. The estimated cost would be $450 million over three years, and a total estimated cost would be $475.5 million over three years.

Thank you very much for your undivided attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thanks very much, Ms. Landry.

Thank you all for your briefs. Do we have all the briefs on record for the open mike? You can give copies to the clerk.

With that, thank you, as I said, for your open-mike presentations.

With that, the meeting is adjourned until tomorrow in Quebec city.