Evidence of meeting #103 for Health in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was access.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
I didn't interrupt you, so it is.
Dr. Powlowski, you have five minutes, please.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
This is for the Canadian Cancer Society.
What is the percentage of cancer deaths that are attributable to smoking, and when is that number from?
12:15 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
If it's okay, we would love to invite Rob Cunningham to answer that question, if possible.
12:15 p.m.
Rob Cunningham Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
Thirty per cent of cancer deaths are caused by smoking. Among women, it's not just lung cancer and colorectal cancer but also cervical cancer and ovarian cancer. There are 16 types of cancer altogether that are caused by smoking.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Are those numbers going up or down? I would have thought that they've been going down, but are we now seeing an increase in the amount of smoking, particularly by young people?
12:15 p.m.
Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian Cancer Society
The good news is that we are seeing a decrease in smoking among both women and girls, so the overall lung cancer death rates are now decreasing among women. They've been decreasing among men for a very long time. It's a tragedy in terms of the increase in smoking and the increase in lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers, but the trends are good.
February 15th, 2024 / 12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Let me shift gears.
Can somebody tell me how much we spend in Canada on research related to doing better at cancer detection and treatment? Let me preface that by saying that there recently was an article in La Presse that looked at the percentage of GDP that's spent for research and development, comparing Canada to other countries. We're not doing very well. We're well below the OECD average. We're below China. We spend less than half of what the United States spends and about a quarter of what South Korea spends. We're spending 1.5%—it used to be 2%—on research and development.
How much are we spending on research and development related to cancer, and should that be increased? The Biden administration has announced a moon shot to try to prevent four million cancer deaths by 2047. Should Canada make a commitment to do something similar and put more money into research and development?
Whatever I say can't end up on the record, but what you say can, so I'd like to hear from all of you. Hopefully, you're all going to say “yes”.
12:15 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
We would absolutely support a similar initiative in this country, for sure. The Canadian Cancer Society invests over $50 million on an annual basis. That's a charity, and there's a lot of opportunity and room for improvement for the federal government to be increasing investment in cancer research.
12:15 p.m.
Liberal
12:15 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
Off the top of my head, no, but I would be happy to follow up later today with some specific figures for you, for sure.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
I'd like to hear quickly from the other doctors on the panel, both online and Dr. Sayani.
12:20 p.m.
Scientist, As an Individual
It's important to focus on prevention and early detection because that's where the most gains can be made. It is currently less funded than other aspects of the cancer care continuum. Therefore, we do need consistent effort and investment in this area.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
12:20 p.m.
Obstetrician Gynaecologist, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, As an Individual
I agree. Particularly on cases where there are very identifiable risk factors and on those cancers, such as endometrial and cervical, where we are seeing, unfortunately, an increase in incidence, that's where our attention should be.
12:20 p.m.
Medical Oncologist, As an Individual
I know that I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but if you have challenges accessing medical advice and supports, you are less likely to participate in research and clinical trials, even when they are available.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Let me briefly ask about support for families and for caregivers. I think Ms. Sonea talked about the particular burden on women who are caregivers. If someone in the family has cancer, somebody else probably has to stay home and look after them. I looked up the federal caregiver tax credit, and it looks like it's $10,500, which isn't nothing, but on the other hand, that's a tax credit. Is that enough, and should that be increased?
12:20 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
That's a great question. Thank you very much for bringing your attention to it.
At the end of the day, making it refundable, regardless of your tax bracket, means that you would get the money back, not just reduce what you would owe. That very particular nuance would really impact people who are already having to either take time off or go on short-term disability or the compassionate care benefit.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
Marcus Powlowski Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Before, under the Conservatives, it was a tax credit, but then we made it a benefit where we actually paid people.
You're proposing that, instead of $10,500 as a tax credit, that gets paid directly to people.
12:20 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
There's the compassionate care benefit, which we were thrilled to see extended from six weeks to 26 weeks, I believe, in 2016. It was fantastic because it was where we sought that alignment with the sickness benefit to make sure that caregivers and patients have the same amount of time.
There's room for improvement in that discussion as well, but what we're looking for is to ensure that $1,100 is about the amount that an adult can take back if they are looking after a dependent, mainly an adult—it's approximately $2,300 if it's a child.
12:20 p.m.
Director, Advocacy, Canadian Cancer Society
There are a lot of nuances with it, but I'm happy to chat more about it.
12:20 p.m.
Liberal
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for being here. There are a bunch of wide-ranging questions here.
Dr. Anan, if I could start with you, Dr. Simpson highlighted robotic surgery around the rest of the country but left out the most important part of the country which is Atlantic Canada, of course. I'm from Nova Scotia.
If you're aware, could you highlight the robotic surgery programs in Atlantic Canada?
12:20 p.m.
Medical Oncologist, As an Individual
Unfortunately, I'm not. I don't treat gynecologic cancers, so I have to admit I'm not aware of what's available right now.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Thank you.
Dr. Simpson, did you have a comment on that, not just to say you're sorry but to highlight the programs?