Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the Minister of State for Public Health.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide my hon. colleagues with more specific information on the measures taken by the government to prevent and treat diseases and illnesses that affect the lives of many Canadians, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental illness.
These diseases are so common in Canada that I think there is not one person in this chamber who has not been affected, either themselves or their families, by cancer, cardiovascular diseases or mental illness. These are the diseases of our 21st century society. We are not alone in facing the challenges they pose. Countries all over the world face them also.
They challenge us because they are diseases that result in part from the way we live, what we eat, how active we are and whether we smoke. This means that as a government, which is committed to the well-being and good health of its citizens, we have to encourage Canadians in healthy choices in their day to day lives and we have to try and shape society so that the right choices, the healthy choices, are the easiest ones to make.
To succeed, we have to adopt an approach that takes us into homes, communities, workplaces and schools. We also have to work in partnership with other departments, jurisdictions and non-governmental organizations.
The government is currently working on achieving these objectives. Our strategy, which is focussed on healthy lifestyles and chronic illness, is based on promoting health and prevention through healthy diet and physical activity. This strategy highlights the conditions that are conducive to poor eating habits, inactivity and excess weight.
What impact will this have on cancer?
In Canada, the incidence of cancer is increasing as the population ages.
In 2005 alone, 150,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with diagnosed with cancer. Seventy thousand of those currently living with cancer will die.
The 2005 budget sets out $300 million over five years for a strategy focussing on healthy living and chronic disease, aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing chronic diseases such as cancer. The strategy leads the way in prevention, early identification and management, in order to reduce these staggering figures.
The budget also allocates $10 million to the Terry Fox Foundation for cancer research to mark the 25th anniversary of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope.
Through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's institute on cancer research, major organizations and agencies that fund cancer research are coming together to coordinate a united strategy response for cancer control. In 2003-04 the Government of Canada supported this effort with an investment of $94 million.
The human element of cancer alone justifies such an investment by the government. Nonetheless, we must also recognize the financial burden caused by the disease. In 1998 alone, cancer cost Canadians over $14 billion and we expect this figure to continue to rise.
What about cardiovascular disease?
Like cancer, cardiovascular disease is very much preventable. We know what the human cost is. The cost of cardiovascular disease to our health care system is also enormous. It is estimated to be about $7 billion annually and is a huge strain on Canada's health care system. In addition, another estimated $12 billion in indirect costs such as lost income and productivity are attributable to cardiovascular disease for that year.
This is why the integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic diseases is so important. The same risk factors can make us vulnerable to cancer, to heart attacks and to strokes.
Canada's Public Health Agency will be working with provinces, territories and stakeholders to put in place innovative and integrated approaches which address the prevention of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, and will address the common risk factors that we know too well: being overweight, eating an unhealthy diet and being physically inactive.
The government has also played a lead role in Canadian activities in favour of cardiovascular health, in addition to its involvement in other activities such as the Healthy Heart Kit, the Canadian Coalition for High Blood Pressure Prevention and Control, and guidelines for hypertension screening. As well, it has worked in conjunction with the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada.
There is another issue that the government is working to address, a health issue that, due to the related stigma, is devastating in its impact on individuals in society. I am talking, of course, about mental health and mental illness.
We are aware that there is still much to be done in connection with mental health in this country. Our well-being as a society and our public health system require us to pay particular attention to mental health issues.
I know that the Minister of Health has made mental health his main priority. In particular, he has appointed a special advisor, the hon. Michael Wilson, and mandated him to examine this issue in the workplace, and has called for the creation of an interdepartmental task force for better coordination of mental health policies in the federal government.
The healthy living strategy, which has the support of provincial and territorial partners, will help us develop a coordinated approach to address mental health issues. While the healthy living strategy currently emphasizes nutrition, physical activity and healthy weights, these cannot fail but have an impact on overall health, including mental health. We cannot separate body and mind when it comes to physical health.
The same is true for mental health. That is why mental health has been identified as a potential area of emphasis for subsequent phases of the healthy living strategy.
Poor mental health and mental illness, like other chronic diseases, are a burden for the individuals and families affected.
The federal government recognizes these ill effects and is concentrating its efforts on conditions that are liable to foster good mental health as well as those liable to trigger or aggravate mental illness. These conditions are particularly present in the work place, which is why the Minister of Health has recently announced his support of research into mental health in the work place, with an investment of $3.2 million.
Chronic illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and mental illnesses are not new to our society, but they demand new approaches from us. We know that they are preventable for the most part, and we know that to prevent them we must be innovative and focused.
We will continue to work in conjunction with the provinces and territories, as well as major health-related organizations. If we are to be effective, we must couple our determination with compassion. By so doing, we will achieve our goal.
I was listening to an earlier speaker talking about his riding having high incidences of cancer and cardiovascular disease. We have a number of those ridings and communities around our country, some in my province, including my riding. If we look at why, inevitably we are going to find work related, industry related and environment related activities.
In the Annapolis Valley, an area with no stacks and no heavy industry, we have one of the highest concentrations of low level ozones anywhere in the world, because of its geography and the harmful emissions in other parts of our country and the country south of it. I think we have to consider all elements when we look at the question of these diseases and healthy living in general and we have to include the environmental element.
On the strategy, the $41 billion we put into health care is important. The money we put into research is important. The strategy specific to diseases suggested by the member for Charleswood St. James—Assiniboia is important. The environmental side is important. Social conditions are important. I think we need to have a fully integrated approach at all levels: social, physical and, of course, workplace.