Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to enter the debate on what is a great motion moved by the member for St. Paul's who is a physician and is probably very aware of this troublesome disease.
Approximately 3,300 people will be diagnosed this year with leukemia and 2,100 will die from it. This is a sad reality but it certainly hits home in a lot of families in Canada. Many families are probably saying goodbye to loved ones who are leaving us because of this disease.
We must continue working together in partnership to develop cures for diseases such as this one. It is not the only one. Before my life in politics I was very involved in the community. I started the Alzheimer's society in my region, another disease that is hitting a lot of people.
Leukemia also hits young people as well. The cure rate for young people today is 65% but 35% do not make it. This is very difficult especially for parents. It is important to make sure Canadians are aware of what is going on here and to make sure that everything possible is being done.
It is therefore important to raise the awareness of this disease, which takes lives every single day across Canada, from coast to coast. Indeed, 35% of children with leukemia will not make it. They will die.
As parents, it is very hard to see these sick children on television or when visiting a hospital.
I want to thank the member for St. Paul's for taking the initiative of raising this very important issue in the House. I would also like to thank all the volunteers who work day and night from coast to coast and who, as such, are not paid of course. In my riding, in the Campbellton area, I went to visit a prison with them to help raise money for cancer. These people are always there, without fail. A knock on the door and they are ready to help fight this disease.
Shortly before Christmas, our family was stricken, not by cancer, but by heart disease. My father died in October 1999; it has been extremely hard on all of us. But I am thinking about a family in the Dalhousie area, in Restigouche, the Perry family, whose 18 year old son has leukemia.
There is no warning. It can hit very quickly. That was exactly what happened to the Perry family, a young family in Dalhousie, New Brunswick. One of the children was diagnosed with leukemia just before Christmas. He is 18 years old and is receiving treatment as we speak. If he is listening today I want to tell him, on behalf of the House, not to lose faith. There is always hope. Sixty-five per cent of people make it through. We are all thinking of him and his family. Hopefully, he will get through as well.
Once again, I would like to thank the hon. member for St. Paul's and all the volunteers. We are still asking the government for its partnership and effort to develop the drugs we need.
Last week, health ministers and premiers met in Quebec City and asked for more money for health care. We need money for development, but we also need money to care for the sick. We really need to put the emphasis on health. I think this is a consensus throughout Canada.
The ball is in the government's court. We need to put pressure on the finance minister and the Prime Minister to put more money in health care, because we know health is a priority in Canada.
I congratulate once more the member opposite. We will gladly support this motion.