Mr. Speaker, Bloorview Kids Rehab is Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital. Dr. Robert Carmichael heads up the world-class pediatric dental clinic and Dr. George Sándor coordinates the oral and maxillofacial surgery. Notably, Dr. Sándor has developing leading-edge stem cell treatments using a patient's own stem cells to grow bone on a frame, which is implanted into the patient. Once the bone has grown and developed its own blood supply, it is harvested and implanted into the facial area being rebuilt.
Dr. Sándor must travel frequently to Finland, where he has obtained $3.2 million in research funding. He would like to patriate that new technology to Canada because we are falling behind in stem cell-based tissue engineering. Unfortunately, his many applications for government funding have not been supported.
I strongly encourage the government to look into this important matter. The entire dental team at Bloorview Kids Rehab is among Canada's best and it is making a big difference in the lives of disabled children with special needs.