Mr. Speaker, April is the Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Month. This year 146,000 Canadians will develop cancer and 68,000 will die, making it the leading cause of premature death in Canada.
Today the chances of survival for many cancers has improved dramatically. I am proud to say that my province of British Columbia has been a leader in this field. By combining prevention, screening, clinical care, research and patient support under the single administration and budget of the B.C. Cancer Agency, a unique, integrated model was created.
There are 13 tumour groups, each dealing with a different type of cancer, that meet regularly to share information and best practices so that there is an equal quality of care across the province. There is targeted funding for early screening programs in each group. B.C. was the first in Canada to have a province-wide Pap smear program. Today, over 700,000 women are tested annually.
The B.C. Cancer Agency can now track the outcome of every patient diagnosed with cancer. As a result, B.C. has the lowest cancer mortality rates in Canada. Perhaps a national cancer agency based on the B.C. model would create similar outcomes across Canada.