Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring some optimism to this debate on what has been described as our health care budget.
I will be splitting my time with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health.
I am here in my capacity as chair of the government caucus on post-secondary education and research. Since 1994 it has been working with members, such as the member from Fredericton who is here today, and others who will be speaking in this debate, on behalf of students, universities, colleges, researchers in hospitals, institutes and schools across Canada.
In discussing this health care budget I will begin by describing one of the highlights of my life. It was a conversation I and two or three other people had 19 years ago with Terry Fox. Terry had completed his 42 klicks for the day. He came into Peterborough and was talking to us about what he was doing.
Someone asked him why he was raising money for cancer research. At that time in Peterborough we had problems with cancer care, driving people a long way to get treatment and that kind of thing. Of course Terry had no idea of the vast amounts of money that would eventually be raised in his name, but Terry said he had decided that the money should go to cancer research. He had been a patient and the care had been there for him, and even though perhaps there should be some improvements to it, he knew that if there was no research in the future there would be people just like him. They might get good care but they would never be cured, nor would their disease ever be prevented. Terry Fox deliberately channelled the money he raised into cancer research.
The cancer societies have been in a fortunate situation in Canada. All of us every April go out and raise money for cancer and that goes to care. And many of us participate in the Terry Fox runs, and that money goes for research.
Research is the foundation of any modern health care system. It is not an extra, it is not some sort of a luxury. It is an integral part of any efficient, modern health care system. In this health care budget we were very fortunate with the financial circumstances that we were able to transfer more than $11 billion to the provinces for health care in general for the operation of hospitals, clinics, long term care facilities, children's health centres, home care, the prevention and promotion of health care and that kind of thing. We were able to devote $11 billion in that direction. At the same time, something that has been going on since 1994, we were able to devote funds specifically for health care research.
When medicare was first introduced the focus was on curing illness with doctors and hospitals. Now good health care is as much about preventing illness as it is about curing it. Research generates new insights into human biology and disease processes. It illuminates the factors that affect the health of people in communities. It leads to the discovery of new cures, to the discovery of medical technologies and procedures and it helps us to tailor the health care system to the needs of Canadians.
This budget invests close to $1.4 billion specifically for improving information systems, promoting health related research and innovation, for research into improving first nations and Inuit health services and for preventing health problems. This will ensure that our doctors, nurses, administrators and others have the most up to date knowledge, information, treatments and cures at their fingertips. It will also allow them to innovate and learn from each other to the benefit of all Canadians.
These are important investments that will improve Canada's health care system in the years ahead. The decision to invest in both what we think of as direct care and in research at the same time was the only decision that a responsible government could have made.
One of the most important research announcements in the budget was the $240 million investment in the new Canadian institutes of health research, the CIHR. These institutes will bring together the best researchers and support groups from across Canada in areas such as aging, arthritis, women's health, cancer and heart disease.
Last year our government caucus on post-secondary education was delighted to meet several times with Dr. Henry Friesen, president of the Medical Research Council and with the presidents of the other granting councils to discuss this new institute's concept. Dr. Friesen explained that health research has expanded beyond its traditional boundaries of simple medical research. The CIHR will offer a modern framework to bring together all fields of health research. It will build on the research base of our universities, health and research centres, teaching hospitals, federal and provincial governments, and voluntary and private sectors by supporting and linking researchers in new ways.
In the future research teams representing many disciplines, not just medical, will be linked by institutes structured along thematic lines to create a powerful across Canada network of expertise in areas of importance to us all. These institutes will not be centralized bricks and mortar facilities. Instead they will support and link researchers and support groups located in universities, hospitals and other research centres in communities all across Canada.
It is very interesting today in modern times to think about what health research is. We need engineers, not doctors, to make new joints like elbows, wrists, hips and so on. We need chemists to develop new drugs, not just medical doctors.
We need telecommunication specialists to develop new techniques so that x-rays and other medical records can be transmitted across the country to be interpreted by the best available people. We need telecommunication experts so that doctors can diagnose patients who are located thousands of kilometres away. We need social scientists to track the success and failure rates of various procedures. We need people to study the best ways of delivering health care in our communities, social scientists, statisticians, people of that type.
Modern health care would not be possible without a broad based, basic research system across all disciplines. That system requires an education system to bring up the people who can operate and staff it, an accessible, effective education system.
In this health care budget the federal government, in addition to the specific health care items which involve huge sums of money, has once again been able to invest in fundamental research and education across Canada. This is something that has been going on from the very first days of this government.
The funding of the granting councils, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council as well as the Medical Research Council, was once again increased. So was the funding to the National Research Council and the funding to the new Canada Foundation for Innovation which is providing infrastructure for research in communities all across Canada.
To give an example of the diversity of research which is necessary to support a really effective health care system, this time in the budget there was a fund provided for research into various aspects of nursing. This fund is an endowment to support a 10 year nursing research program. This new research initiative will deal with the changing roles and needs of nursing. This is so important in all our health institutions.
This fund will be administered by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, a partner to the institutes I mentioned. This research is an example of focusing on basic health care, the care that nurses provide, helping to provide it in the most effective way.
I would like to have seen more support for the SSHRC, for the NRC and for northern research but the momentum of supporting basic research in this country has continued in this budget and I am delighted to see it. I join Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Smith who said: “This budget was a tremendous vote of confidence in the research community of Canada. This is the best federal budget I've seen in support of academic research”.