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Bloc Québécois answers to the Heart and Stroke Foundation questionnaire Q1) By including diagnostic imaging tests, such as MRIs and echocardiograms, in a world-leading study on chronic diseases (called Tomorrow) currently being funded across Canada by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, we will be better able to understand the factors that influence heart disease and stroke over a lifetime. This understanding will lead to better prevention and treatments. If you are elected, will your party commit to including diagnostic imaging tests, such as MRIs and echocardiograms, in the Tomorrow study to provide a better understanding of heart disease and stroke?

For the Bloc Québécois, research is an extremely promising avenue that must be encouraged. Identifying the causes of certain diseases, and discovering new palliative treatments and cures helps to significantly improve the quality of life of thousands of Quebecers and Canadians. As such, we propose that the federal government substantially increase the budget allocated to fundamental research and that it transfer it directly to Quebec so that the latter can invest the funds as it sees fit. Q2) In 2008, the Heart and Stroke Foundation launched a national bilingual awareness campaign called The Heart Truth. This campaign aims to educate Canadian women about heart disease and stroke—the leading killers of women—and to encourage them to take a more active role in their heart health. Currently, only 23% of Canadian women know that heart disease and stroke are the number one threat to their health; in many cases, they do not know how to prevent them. The first three years of this campaign were a resounding success. However, the campaign needs additional funding to effectively target highrisk populations, such as women from certain ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as Aboriginal women. In order to expand the campaign to effectively reach these high-risk women, we will ask the next federal government to support the final phase of The Heart Truth campaign. If you are elected, will your party help us to reach women across the country by committing $3 million to support The Heart Truth campaign?

Health and social services are strictly a provincial jurisdiction, and, as such, the Bloc Québécois feels that Quebec and the provinces are the best placed to implement the healthcare system that meets the needs of their respective populations, on their own terms, without any restrictions from the federal government. The Quebec government created the Programme national de santé publique 2003-2012, one of whose many objectives is to reduce cardiovascular-related mortality and morbidity rates by 3% every year until 2012. To truly support Quebec and the provinces in their fight against heart disease, the federal government needs to stop setting priorities and start increasing its share of healthcare funding. The Bloc Québécois believes that the complete elimination of the fiscal imbalance that is currently crippling Canada, and depriving Quebec and the provinces of the revenues they need to meet their health and social services obligations, is the only way that Quebec and the provinces can further develop the public services under their jurisdiction, jointly with the partners in their territories, and ensure that citizens receive appropriate health and social services in a timely manner.


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