Mr. Speaker, allow me to congratulate our colleague from the government majority, the hon. member from Ontario, who I gather from her preliminary remarks is a physician by trade, on her sensitivity to a form of blood cancer that is obviously a very trying disease, which, as you know, affects all too many young people.
Of course, I cannot congratulate her on her preliminary remarks on the clarity bill. She will understand that, as far as that goal is concerned, I do not share her views and do not believe this is a bill we should promote, because we on this side agree it is really undemocratic.
That being said, I do congratulate her wholeheartedly for the sensitivity she has displayed toward the fight against leukemia. We will indeed support her motion, while I realize it is not a votable item. The hon. member has suggested that there are three approaches to overcoming leukemia.
She reminded us that, at the time when she was a medical student in 1974—I was barely a teenager then, as you can imagine—for all intents and purposes, leukemia was a terminal disease with very little hope of remission and with very few drugs available of course.
I believe I am correct in saying today that, while there is still no satisfactory treatment and today still people—again too often children and young people—die from leukemia, there are a number of drugs available and treatment is possible.
I think that the hon. member's motion, which is primarily designed to raise awareness, is also a call for research and for partnership between public funding agencies and the pharmaceutical industry.
I am pleased to tell her that we on this side believe that her call should be heard. I think that research is important and can make a difference. When we talk about the pharmaceutical industry, there are two main industrial clusters, so to speak. There is the generic drug industry, which is based mainly in Ontario, in the Toronto and Mississauga area, and the brand name drug industry, based in Quebec.
We must bear in mind that the fight against leukemia or cancer in general cannot be won without co-ordinating the research effort.
I met recently with representatives of the association formerly known as PMAC, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada, whose name has been changed to Rx & D. Under this new designation is a long-established group of about forty companies essentially involved in producing brand name drugs.
The brand name drug industry told us that a research cycle of more than 10 years may have elapsed between the time a molecule is isolated for research and the time a drug becomes available on the consumer market. Between the time a molecule is isolated for research and the time the drug becomes commercially available, an investment of nearly $500 million is required.
We are talking about huge investments, so much so that the legislator—I think we have to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto Ménard what is Ménard's—Patent protection was initiated under the Progressive Conservative government.
If I am not mistaken, it was introduced in 1991 or 1992, under Bill C-22. The legislator found it necessary at the time to provide some form of protection and incentive to research, because to this day—and let us never forget it—it is our best and most legitimate hope to overcome disease, particularly debilitating diseases like leukemia.
Research has to remain our greatest hope. It is important to recall that, with the motion tabled by our colleague, a member from Ontario and a physician by trade, we as parliamentarians must implement the most effective, forward-looking and discerning tools to make research possible.
I have just reviewed actions taken under the Mulroney government, which my seatmate, the hon. member for Chicoutimi, was part of in the good as well as the bad times. Of course, he is convinced that the good times were more important than the more difficult ones, which is totally his right.
We are in favour of this motion. We agree that awareness is required. This brings me to the third aspect raised by our colleague, namely, support for caregivers.
When someone in our family has an illness, this is not an isolated situation which has no effect on our ability to cope. Awareness means understanding what the illness is, understanding what medications are available, understanding that prophylaxis is available, but it also means adopting a certain behaviour when we know people with leukemia.
Both members who spoke before me, the motion's sponsor and our colleague from the Reform Party who alluded with great humour to his stoutness—which, I must tell him, makes him very likeable and very endearing to us—referred to the importance of showing solidarity as caregivers. Awareness also means providing information on what type of behaviour to adopt.
I thank our colleague for her motion. We are showing solidarity. If the motion had been deemed votable, we would have voted for it as a group, as we must do in some circumstances.