Liberals successful in bringing MS debate into House of Comm

[erinc14]

Liberals successful in bringing MS debate into House of Commons

Ottawa – After months of pushing the Harper government to invest in multiple sclerosis patients, Liberals have finally been victorious in bringing the debate into the House of Commons.

Liberal Public Health Critic Dr. Kirsty Duncan had her request for a four-hour debate in the House accepted by the government recently.

“This is a real victory for MS patients,” said Dr. Duncan. “It’s the first time we are bringing this debate right into the House of Commons, and that is a huge step forward.”

The debate, taking place Monday, comes after months of lobbying by Liberal MPs and MS patients to get the Harper government to invest in MS research, diagnosis and treatment, and to immediately convene a meeting of provincial and territorial health ministers to discuss a national approach to funding MS and other diseases of the brain.

“This debate will help Canadians better understand the leadership required by the federal government to fund the clinical research necessary to determine the best possible care for thousands of MS patients in Canada, including a procedure known as ‘liberation,’ which may alleviate MS,” said Liberal Health Critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett.

"I am so proud of the hard work that my colleague Dr. Duncan has done to bring this issue into the House of Commons on the eve of important testimony from Dr. Zamboni, the originator of Liberation procedure, who will appear at the Health subcommittee on June 15th,” concluded Dr. Bennett.

http://www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media ... of-commons

[Ali888]

Finally...some good news!!!

[Richardk]

A 4 hour debate?....I hope they're well researched on the issues....this is excellent news, and if it has been accepted for debate must indicate that the government has this issue on their radar screens....excellent work on behalf of Dr Duncan

[mangio]

she is dynamite,
she is a professor and we are in constant contact,
stayed tuned!

[Stacemeh]

I hope they're well researched on the issues

We know Dr. Duncan is.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I wonder how often specific medical treatment like this gets a full debate in the House?

[Richardk]

I hope they're well researched on the issues

We know Dr. Duncan is.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I wonder how often specific medical treatment like this gets a full debate in the House?

Does anyone know when/where you can watch it?

[eric593]

Around 7:00 pm-ish, EST. On CPAC

[garyak]

It's on CPAC right now

[garyak]

Kirsty Duncan is unbelievably good in her questioning - she is outstanding-I'm watching it right now.
Her passion is voracious ! She said she hasn't been to bed before 4 am in few months because of all the patients she has been talking to-she is my new hero - wow was she incredible.

[thornyrose76]

Can this be viewed later, online?

A transcript of the debate maybe?

[Brightspot]

Google CPAC and then click on the link. You can watch live on the internet.

[garyak]

It looks as though it's going to go the entire 4 hours. The concencus appears to be a push to get the federal minster of health to convene a meeting soon with all the provincial health ministers on the topic of ccsvi and ms. But this is government and who knows where this will lead.
Dr Zamboni speaks in front of the parliamentary commitee on this topic soon - I think.
At least 4 MP's have immediate family members with ms- a wife, daughter, sister and a father that were in attendence tonight - wow so we have some direct first hand experience amongst our MP's in Canada.
I can't say enough about the awesome job that Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan has done for our cause in the house of commons. We should all take the time to email her to thank her for what she is doing for MSrs.
I have heard a lot about her and now that I have seen her in action I was blown away by how good she was tonight. Her email is duncan.k@parl.gc.ca

[Billmeik]

Im in poland where I had the procedure the other day.

First, since this laptop is a new mac I had to install flip4mac to watch the debate:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... nents.mspx


then I went to the cpac page
http://www.cpac.ca/forms/index.asp?act= ... te_id=1073


what is there is just a snippet. It's good to hear these guys yammering about ccsvi, but I want to see more of it, or a transcript...

looks good though...

[nicknewf]

There was a lot of misinformation from the government side tonight; which Dr. Duncan was brilliant at diffusing and correcting; but I wonder whether she got through.

1. That CCSVI is the treatment? Correct a couple of times.
2. That venoplasty is brand new. Corrected twice. First with references to venoplasty outside the neck.
3. That venoplasty in the neck is new. Corrected.

The displeasure voiced in the house directed at the neurology community was heartening; especially Kirsty Duncan's call for Zamboni, CCSVI experts and vascular specialists to be in on the government meetings which are planned. What a champion.

It was all wonderful; and I can't wait to listen to the Zamboni presentation to the subcommittee tomorrow.

[erinc14]

Ms. Duncan, whose tenacity sparked the debate, says that at first there were some politics played last night over the role of the federal government in health issues.

But she said there was a real shift in the debate when “someone on the government side had the courage to say that we have responsibility here.”

“It was really good,” she said. “What we’re fighting for is that these guys be able to have diagnoses and treatment in Canada. Why are they having to go overseas when everything is available here?”

.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le1605138/


OTTAWA - An Italian doctor pioneering an unproven treatment for multiple sclerosis says it's "not responsible" to deny Canadian patients access to the procedure.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 00579.html