Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak about an exciting and significant development announced on October 26 called HapMap.
HapMap is powerful medical research tool intended to speed the discovery of genetic contribution to common diseases like asthma, diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
I am proud to say that two Canadian researchers, working in conjunction with their foreign partners, have made a huge contribution toward making this tool available to Canadians and to the rest of the world. It will accelerate screening for the genes that cause certain diseases.
Dr. Tom Hudson, of the Genome Quebec Innovation Centre and McGill University, and Bertha Knoppers of the Université de Montréal, were the driving forces behind this remarkable scientific breakthrough.
It is another example of the Canadian government's commitment to investing in Canadian research. We were the first country to invest in this international consortium, with the commitment of $50 million in April 2002.