Mr. Speaker, with yesterday being Brain Cancer Awareness Day, I am pleased to present a petition on that subject. The petitioners note that an estimated 27 Canadians are diagnosed with a brain tumour each day. Fewer than three in 10 Canadians diagnosed with a tumour survive five years after their diagnosis. Brain cancer research is critically underfunded in Canada. Canada is years behind the U.S. in approving new drugs and treatments. Even when brain cancer therapies are approved, they are not always made equally accessible across the country. There continues to be a shortage of brain cancer drugs.
Accordingly, the petitioners call on the Government of Canada to increase funding for brain cancer research; work with the provinces and territories to ensure that drugs, medical devices and new therapies are accessible to brain cancer patients nationwide; and remove unnecessary red tape so brain cancer drugs can be approved more quickly.