House of Commons photoLost his last election, in 2011, with 35% of the vote.
Supply June 7th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I do not know why the member opposite is so upset at my mention of the fact that I am engaged in a personal struggle on these issues. It is important that all Canadians participate. That is why we want to have a Canadian healthy living and chronic disease strategy.
Supply June 7th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, there is no question that chronic diseases, as I indicated in my remarks, cost us approximately $70 billion a year. That may include the productivity cost as well.
It is important to recognize that stand-alone strategies are not necessarily the best way to deal with this issue. There was agreement on that issue among the first ministers because there is emphasis in that accord on an integrated chronic disease strategy. I understand there is some consensus among professionals who deal with these issues that many of these diseases, including cancer, share common risk factors. Therefore, it is important for us to have an integrated disease strategy and an integrated response to several of these diseases all at the same time, as I said, aided and complemented by disease specific initiatives that we need to deal with. It is important.
There is no question that public health generally needs to be promoted across the country rather than remedial action. We need to make sure that we promote healthy living. Part of this strategy would be the education, awareness and promotion of healthy living.
I am personally engaged in trying to live healthy. I have been at the gym at the Confederation Building almost every day for the past three months. It is important that each one of us engage in that.
Supply June 7th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is fond of very simple answers.
Let me go back to the 2004 accord. The first ministers all agreed, based on advice they all received from their jurisdictions, that we should have an integrated healthy living and chronic disease strategy. That strategy will be funded with $300 million additionally over the next five years, which means $60 million additionally a year.
Obviously, money is never enough. One could always pour in a lot more money. We need to work on a whole host of issues, healthy living and dealing with common risk factors in the integrated disease strategy, and of course disease specific actions and projects that need to be dealt with. All of that has to be done together. We are working on that multi-pronged strategy.
I believe that if the member looked at that, he would be satisfied that we would deal with the issues that the NGOs or non-profit sector is asking for in terms of the stand-alone strategy. It was a decision made in the budget at that time. We want to make sure that we deal with the common risk factors in the chronic disease strategy in an integrated fashion aided by some of the disease specific initiatives that we are undertaking as well.
Supply June 7th, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the issue is among one of the foremost preoccupations for me as the Minister of Health.
I thank the hon. member opposite for bringing the issue forward in the form of this motion. The hon. member is quite right in highlighting the human and economic toll of serious chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and mental illness.
Few families have not been touched at some time by the pain, the anxiety, the fear and the tragedy brought on by such devastating conditions. The Government of Canada understands and I understand that when Canadians are forced to fight these battles they should never be left on their own. They need and warrant our help. The hallmark of a caring society is one that aids people in their time of greatest need.
We can and must do those things. At the same time, we need to support knowledge sharing to ensure that the benefits of research are put into the best practices that will, over time, help lessen suffering by unlocking the key to earlier detection and better management.
Those are among the principles of our new integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic disease. These strategies are being developed by the new Public Health Agency of Canada.
Thanks to an important investment included in last February's federal budget, the strategy brings together, focuses and builds on the many activities that are already helping Canadians deal with the burden of chronic disease.
Non-infectious or chronic diseases do not generally seize the headlines but the truth is that they kill more Canadians every day than all the emerging communicable diseases combined. We know that 82% of deaths and 74% of disabilities are attributable to chronic diseases.
The cost in terms of quality of life is immeasurable. Insofar as it is possible to put a price on suffering, we can say that chronic diseases cost our economy an estimated $70 billion per year.
While chronic diseases can afflict anyone, their burden is not shared equally. Certain groups, low income and aboriginal Canadians, for example, are more apt to suffer from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer and some types of mental illness than the population at large.
Many chronic diseases are largely preventable and yet more and more Canadians are not sufficiently active or not eating as healthily as they might to ward off chronic disease down the road.
Chronic disease is often dubbed the silent epidemic. We in the Government of Canada, alongside our partners in the provinces and territories and the health and non-profit sectors, can hear the cry for health loud and clear. We hear it and we are acting.
Over the years, Health Canada has worked with its partners to respond to the many urgent needs posed by chronic disease. I know my colleagues will review some of the many disease specific initiatives that have emerged from our many fruitful partnerships, such as the Canadian heart health Initiative and the Canadian diabetes strategy.
Let me spend a couple of moments on the programs that we have or will have with respect to cancer. First is the integrated strategy of healthy living and chronic disease. As we know, in this budget that is before the House, $300 million over five years have been provided, of which a significant portion will fund a component for cancer specific activities in support of the Canadian strategy for cancer control.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research is also involved in research and provided $94 million for cancer research in 2003-04. For 2004-05, cancer research programs benefited from $93 million, in addition to $12 million for cancer related Canada research chairs.
There has been a $10 million one time grant for the 2005 budget for cancer research in recognition of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope.
The Canadian breast cancer initiative will get $4 million annually to support research, care and treatment, professional education, programs for early detection and access to information for women.
The Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance gets $3 million annually to support high quality research on all aspects of disease.
Many other programs that are currently in place.
We are also fully engaged on a number of very worthwhile fronts with the Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada.
The Government of Canada is also investing intensively in research into the causes and potential treatments for various chronic conditions. In the area of diabetes, for instance, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research committed $28 million in 2003-04 alone.
Since 1997, the Canada Foundation for Innovation has awarded another $27 million to support diabetes research at universities and research hospitals, while six of Canada's research chairs specialize in this disease alone.
Mental health is often overlooked as a chronic disease , but it may be just as devastating and debilitating for Canadian families. In making mental health one of my own personal priorities, I recently appointed the Hon. Michael Wilson as a special adviser for mental health in the federal workplace. I have asked my cabinet colleagues to appoint a senior official within their ministries to help coordinate federal policies and activities in the area of mental health in our own workplace.
I think we can all agree that the range and depth of initiatives underscore the commitment of the Government of Canada to control the prevalence of chronic disease. However we also appreciate that there are compelling reasons to integrate our efforts, to build on our laudable progress and to create some powerful synergies. Indeed, that is the approach adopted in budget 2005 which builds on previous investments with another $300 million over five years for the integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic disease. If I might add, this approach is supported by the 2004 accord on health care of the first ministers of September 2004.
The strategy will include a series of activities to promote healthy eating and encourage physical activity and healthy weight in order to help control chronic diseases. It also encompasses a series of complementary disease specific activities in the area of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, as I have indicated.
For example, funding for the Canadian diabetes strategy will rise from $15 million to $18 million a year. The aboriginal diabetes initiative will also be extended and enhanced. Its funding will rise to $25 million in the first year and eventually up to $55 million as part of a $700 million aboriginal health package that was also agreed upon at the first ministers meeting in 2004.
The investment will support diabetes prevention and health promotion and improved treatment and surveillance.
I am confident that the integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic disease is the right way to go. It will result in better health for all Canadians and a more sustainable health care system down the road.
The reason for my confidence is that the strategy adopts an innovative approach comprising three interrelated pillars. First, it promotes health by addressing the conditions that lead to unhealthy eating, physical inactivity and unhealthy weight. I have been personally engaged in my own struggle with all of those issues and have been exercising almost every day for the last three months.
Second, the strategy seeks to prevent chronic disease through focused and integrated action on major chronic conditions and their risk factors.
Third, it will furnish us with platforms for early detection and management of chronic diseases.
We take a great deal of justifiable pride in the knowledge that Canadians are among the healthiest people in the world. They are served well by a health care system that is one of the best in the world. There is no question that health care system can be improved upon and that is what I suppose all of us across the country are engaged in.
A long, healthy life has become something of an expectation of living in a wealthy society and yet, ironically, there is a downside to longevity and prosperity. However that does not mean we need to lose ground when it comes to our enviable health status. What it means is that we need to focus on priorities. We need to recognize that chronic diseases pose a real and growing threat to our population.
We need to commit to action. We need to work together to address the underlying conditions that lead to chronic disease. We need to work in partnership, governments, health professionals, researchers, the non-profit sector, all those with a shared interest in maintaining a healthy population and a sustainable health care system. We need to work together in an integrated fashion tying together surveillance and monitoring, prevention and health promotion, knowledge sharing and best practices, and early detection and better disease management.
Those are the key elements of our integrated strategy on healthy living and chronic disease. I am confident that they will lead us down the right path toward better health for all Canadians.
Once again I applaud the hon. member opposite for his well placed concerns and for bringing this urgent matter to the floor of the House. While we are making progress on the path I just outlined, the motion is worth considering in the context of the direction we are taking.
Member for Newton--North Delta June 2nd, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I said before that the member for Newton—North Delta, the expert in doctoring tapes, came to us and made demands. The demands were rejected. He has now actually misplaced some of the tapes. He has misplaced the tape of a two hour conversation with me in my home, which those members said on May 22 that they had.
What is the involvement of the Leader of the Opposition in erasing or misplacing those tapes?
Member for Newton--North Delta June 2nd, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I said yesterday that not much stock should be placed in those tapes. My suspicions have come true. Independent experts from CFRA have said the tapes had been doctored. So we not only have a serial taper in the House, we have a doctor in the House who is an expert in altering the tapes.
Health June 2nd, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister provided an additional $42 billion to all the provinces to ensure public health care remains strong in this country for the next 10 years. I want to ensure that we enforce the Canada Health Act evenly across the country. We shall enforce the Canada Health Act to ensure that any delivery of health care in this country conforms with the Canada Health Act.
Health June 2nd, 2005
Mr. Speaker, we do stand for public health care and public delivery of health care. That means that the delivery in this country has to be within the context and the four corners of the Canada Health Act. We will monitor this particular clinic and ensure that the Canada Health Act is enforced.
Member for Newton—North Delta June 1st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, as I have already said, the member approached us. We rejected his demands. The fact is that we are dealing with a serial taper who has had 14 days to possibly manipulate those tapes. The translation is not authenticated. The tapes are hard to hear. The English is badly transcribed. The Punjabi is badly translated. There is no stock that can be placed in those tapes.
Member for Newton—North Delta June 1st, 2005
Mr. Speaker, the member for Newton--North Delta approached us and made demands. They were rebuffed. No offers were made. None were accepted by us. We basically told the hon. member he could cross the floor and we would be welcoming him. He did not. That is why he is not on this side of the House.