QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Multiple Sclerosis Research
May 3, 2023
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate, Senator Gold.
May is Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, Awareness Month. Today, our guests from MS Canada have brought us their red carnations to wear to demonstrate our solidarity with the 90,000 Canadians living with MS and to help spread awareness.
MS Canada does important work, and they are committed to achieving their bold vision which is a world free of multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. It is unpredictable. It is also known as an episodic disability.
Unfortunately, Canada has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. On average, 12 Canadians per day are diagnosed with MS, and typically the onset is between the ages of 20-49, so people in the prime of their lives. Women are three times more prone to be diagnosed with MS than men.
My colleague and friend Sarah Marquis, a University of Ottawa PhD student, is one of those young women.
Senator Gold, Harvard University research provides strong evidence indicating an association between the Epstein-Barr virus and the onset of MS. News of this groundbreaking study triggered an $18‑million investment by the Australian government in MS research. Not surprisingly, topping the list of policy priorities from MS Canada is securing a $15‑million investment by the Government of Canada in a research partnership with them. They have other priorities, including getting our disability benefit out in a timely manner and at an adequate level.
Could you tell me, Senator Gold, if the Government of Canada will join Australia in taking a leadership role in supporting this groundbreaking research on MS?
Thank you for this question. I was very privileged yesterday to meet with representatives from MS Canada. They brought me up to date on the important work they are doing. I met their very able spokespeople, including two extraordinary women who were diagnosed with MS a long time ago. Thanks to innovations in treatment, of which there are growing choices, they are leading healthy, productive lives despite having intermittent relapses as can be the case.
I have been made aware of the research recently published after the last round of funding was provided for research in these areas. I undertake to them, and now publicly to all Canadians, to carry this message to my colleagues in cabinet so that we in Canada can, indeed, contribute to a worldwide effort to find what very well may be a way to prevent MS, even as we make progress in managing this terrible disease to a greater extent. Thank you for your question. You have my commitment to follow it through.
