Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to have the privilege of standing again in our House of Commons to talk about an issue which is very important to Canadians.
First of all I commend the hon. member who has brought this motion forward. I have a great deal of respect and interest in people who pursue research into finding the cure for many different diseases, so I am on the right wavelength in terms of supporting the intent of such a motion.
One needs to ask how one can best promote both the awareness of any particular disease or situation, and how one can best foster an environment both economically and academically to search for cures for these various diseases. This one focuses on one particular disease, blood cancer or leukemia.
I was asked to represent our party in this debate tonight. I stopped to think of how many people I know who have had leukemia. I may be wrong but I thought of four. I have been wracking my brain trying to think of whether or not there are more. In all instances, as the hon. member stated, when the news is first given, it is like a death sentence. Several people in our own family have had cancer: both my wife and her father and several others. It is devastating because it is a disease for which at this stage there is no known cause. Hence there is not a cure that has any degree of certainty, although they have been doing research and great strides have been made. It is very encouraging to realize that now some 70% of children who are diagnosed with leukemia actually will be survivors.
I have thought of two people who as young adults were diagnosed with leukemia and who are still living. Two have gone into remission of the four I was able to think of. One is a person in my community who has a wife and two young children. Frankly when he got the word that he had leukemia it blew this young family away. He went for treatment and I believe with his extraordinary faith in God for his divine healing he has been in remission now for a number of years. I saw him not long ago and I was very pleased with his appearance. I do not know if it is possible but he even looked healthier than I do. He is a little less rotund but is very healthy. We are grateful for that.
There were two young fellows on my list both of whom were diagnosed in their late teens and neither of whom survived. Both young men were very close to us. They were friends of ours. They were contemporaries of our children. They did not make it. They were diagnosed, went through the treatment regimen with a lot of agony and suffering and eventually did not make it.
No doubt this is a disease which requires urgent attention. As a government we must promote research and development in these medical areas. We need to concentrate on pockets of research in the country so that people who are of like mind can share their ideas and promote their research. I would like to see that happen.
With respect to calling a month of awareness, I am neither here nor there on it. The member is proposing that June be declared leukemia awareness month. April already is cancer awareness month. We are very aware of it.
In fact, I go to jail every April for the annual jail and bail fundraising that the Cancer Society does in our area. I have had the misfortune the last couple of times of having the Liberal candidate whom I defeated be the judge when I was arrested. When they bring me in he is not very kind to me. He always sets the bail really high.
Last April when they took me in, they arrested me and put handcuffs on me. As I said, I am rather rotund and the handcuffs actually dug into my skin and pushed right against the bone. I stood in front of the judge and said, “This is prisoner abuse”. He said, “That will be $500 for speaking disrespectfully of our police force”. I said, “That's not fair”. He said, “Five hundred dollars for talking back to the judge” and then he put me into the jail. I said, “This is no real jail. If it was a real jail there would be a colour TV”. He said, “Another 500 bucks”.
I had to raise $1,500 for bail to get out of jail which of course my friends helped me to do and I was able to get out of jail. All of these different activities not only raise awareness of the disease but they also raise money in order to promote research.
I have an inclination to say that leukemia awareness month should be tied in with the general cancer awareness in April. That would be my preference.
However, I would have no objection to setting aside a separate month even though we have only 12 months and, as has been mentioned, every month is an awareness month for more than one cause at this stage.
The message I would like to leave is one that has more to do with government involvement than with declaring a month a particular month. We all have to do as much as we can to promote research and development, to educate particularly our young people, and to provide a climate for them that promotes research. Perhaps I should not say this in the context of this debate but I cannot stay away from it. We need to reduce taxes so that our research scientists and our young people can find greater motivation to stay here and work together to find cures for diseases.
Leukemia is an interesting disease because considerable progress has been made in this area. Perhaps the research in leukemia will eventually be the key that unlocks the door to wider research and gives us more clues on how to attack cancer generally.
I commend the member for bringing forward the motion. Even having this one hour of debate in the House today helps to increase the awareness of people.
There are two kinds of people in our country. Those who have had experience with cancer, perhaps leukemia, are very aware of the disease and the need for research. There are others who fall into the category of “it will not happen to me or to my family”. Those are the ones we should target. Those are the ones all of us should help to make more aware. We should appeal to them to work together as Canadians. Whether it be through our tax system or voluntary charitable donations, let us all work together to find a cure.