Mr. Speaker, this is one of those issues that is important for us to recognize.
We had a colleague for whom I believe members on all sides of this House had a true feeling of compassion. I am talking about Mauril Bélanger in the fight of his life. In a very real and tangible way, he brought to the attention of this House and many Canadians from coast to coast to coast an issue that affects literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians.
When I was making reference to the budget, I talked about the importance of health care. One of the aspects of health care that we really never get enough time to talk about is the importance of research. Research is incredibly important to many of the issues and challenges that health care and the department have to face nowadays. It requires a commitment and co-operation.
I have argued in the past, and will continue to argue, today especially, on issues such as the one we have before us, that if we want to see a national government play a role on important issues such as this, what we need to recognize is that it cannot be done alone. Many different stakeholder groups and health care professionals are involved. There are different stakeholders, including family members and affected individuals, who truly care and want us to advocate for this issue, bring it forward, and see if we can make a difference. The question then is, what can Ottawa do as a nation or as a level of government?
I would argue that Ottawa is in the best position to demonstrate national leadership. When we look at what we are debating today, we see that this in essence is what this government is being called upon to do. When we talk about these types of issues or health care issues in general, what we find is that Ottawa cannot resolve the problem itself; it requires the different stakeholders. Whether that is science or the different levels of government, and specifically provincial governments, everyone needs to get on board.
One of the greatest privileges I had while I was in the Manitoba legislature was the opportunity to be the health care critic in the province of Manitoba. At that point, I was able to get a better understanding of how health care is administered. Whether it is in Ottawa or in the provincial or territorial areas, there is a sense of commitment. This is one of those areas where I believe we will find there is all-party support. I am anticipating that we will see this motion pass.
I applaud my colleague who brought the motion forward. I believe it is a very timely motion. At the end of the day, I am very optimistic that we will get support on both sides of the House.
There are so many stories. This is the second hour of debate that we have had on the issue. In the first hour of debate, there were a lot of personal stories. I truly appreciate that in private members' business, we were provided the opportunity to listen to many of those personal stories. I suspect we will hear more of those in just a minute or two, because it is one way for not only parliamentarians but also Canadians as a whole to identify with issues such as this and examine what it is we can actually do.
Often what happens is we hear of a friend or a family member who is affected by this disease, and quite often the manner in which it causes the condition of the individual to deteriorate can be very sad and depressing.
However, we get these moments of truth with individuals like Mauril Bélanger, to whom I made reference. He was an individual who understood what was happening and fought it right to the end. He was able to accomplish so much.
Through the efforts of the sponsor of the motion and through the comments made from critics and others, whether inside or outside of the chamber, this is about education. The more educated the public is on the issue, we will see a more serious attempt by government to work with the different stakeholders to try to do what we can to fight this brutal disease.