July 13, 2015
Further to the Letter to the Editor from Matthew Dineen, a resident of Ontario, although I did not support the Private Member’s Bill by a Member of the opposition I did support my colleague, Ben Lobb’s Motion calling on the government to continue taking action on dementia. The Motion states:
“That, in the opinion of the House, the government should, while respecting provincial and territorial jurisdiction, continue to take the necessary measures to prevent Alzheimer's disease and other dementias and to reduce the impact of dementia for those living with this disease, as well as for their families and caregivers, by continuing to focus on: (a) taking leadership appropriate to the federal role that will encourage a collaborative and coordinated approach with the provinces and territories to develop a pan-Canadian strategy for dementia, as agreed to at the recent federal-provincial-territorial Health Ministers' meeting; (b) partnerships within Canada and internationally, including commitments with G7 partners, and the work initiated at the 2014 Canada-France Global Dementia Legacy Summit, to accelerate the discovery and development of approaches for the prevention, early diagnosis, delay of onset, and treatment of dementia; (c) education and awareness to reduce the stigma associated with dementia, including the implementation of the Dementia Friends Canada initiative; (d) dementia research with a focus on primary prevention, secondary prevention, and quality of life, including those initiatives outlined in the National Dementia Research and Prevention Plan; (e) promoting the sharing of best practices among all jurisdictions to ensure awareness of promising treatments and services; (f) continuing to work in partnership with relevant stakeholders, including families affected by dementia and leading national groups such as the Alzheimer Society of Canada and the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging; (g) ensuring the full inclusion of all Canadians living with dementia, regardless of age, when acting on the above; (h) continuing to support, through national surveillance systems, the collection of data on key aspects of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in order to inform evidence-based analysis and policy-making; and (i) keeping Canadians informed as progress is made.”
Our government is committed to tackling dementia with Canada positioned as a world leader in the area of dementia research. Since 2006, our government has invested over $220 million in research related to dementia, including $37.8 million last year. Although the Private Member’s Bill was well intentioned we have been taking action in a number of areas it lays out. With the provinces having already agreed to begin work on a strategy many of our actions have progressed beyond what is called for in the Bill. The Bill would also have required, in my view, a Royal Recommendation because of a requirement for new funding. In addition, some of the clauses in the Bill needlessly infringe on provincial jurisdiction in areas such as health, human resources and diagnostic capacity. On the basis of all of the above, I opposed the Private Member’s Bill, but supported the Motion of my colleague Ben Lobb, the Member for Huron-Bruce, Ontario.
Ed Komarnicki MP
Souris-Moose Mountain
