Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Looking back and forward

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, December 17, 2010 10:00am - 49 Comments

Michael Ignatieff sits for year-end interviews with the Globe, Canadian Press, Star, Sun, Postmedia, CTV and CBC. The most interesting bit might’ve resulted from a question submitted by Globe readers.

A Liberal government would launch federally-funded clinical trials of a controversial new treatment for multiple sclerosis, Michael Ignatieff said Thursday in his year-end interview with The Globe and Mail … “The question is: why can’t Canadians get a shot at getting at something that might have a therapeutic benefit?” he asked. “We say yes to that. Let’s get these trial thoroughly conducted. The federal government should take leadership here.”

Tags: CCSVI, Michael Ignatieff, Multiple Sclerosis

More by Aaron Wherry

MostlyCivil

Damnit.

Can somebody please keep the politicians away from the health file? Please?

madeyoulook

They can't help themselves. If they've got a bare finger, and there's a pie anywhere in this country with no finger in it… PLUNGE!

Emily

Always explore the new….good plan.

MostlyCivil

Always explore the new…after doing the basic groundwork first..

Or else your healthcare system will soon be funding clinical trials for chinese stem cell therapies, psychic surgery, faith healing, oregano to cure cancer, and 25,000 herbal products now lining up around the block to looking for cash and legitimacy.

Emily

Ahh well then….we shouldn't do anything at all.

Of course that way we'd still be treating ulcers with operations to remove part of the stomach instead of just using antibiotics.

MostlyCivil

No. Those fellows went through the whole clinical trial process, and took not a single shortcut. if they had, they never would have gained eventual and grudging acceptance for their theory.

Basic groundwork in this case is:
1: Determine whether MS patients do, in fact, have blocked veins in the neck
2: If 1 is true, then determine if non-MS patients do as well, or if there is a marked difference in incidence
3 Using this information, assuming you've found a relationship between the blockages and MS patients, begin to select a cross section of MS patients for a clinical trial.
4: Using the same measuring stick for everybody, start measuring results.

My wife has MS. Don't think i haven't looked at this. She has an Honours BSC, and if she wanted this, I'd sell the car/house/my blood and take her. But she's siad, no let's wait for proper science.

Maybe this will help. maybe it will only help a few, or a few of one type of MS and not another, or maybe nothing but placebo. But she's heard it all before. Bee venom. Vitamin D. Other bits. All based on anecdotal evidence.

That why I say, "do the groundwork".

Emily

Which is precisely what the govt would fund.
MostlyCivil

No. He's talking about skipping the early steps and funding the testing in canada right now. Shortcut.
Emily

Clinically funded trials…it's what's needed.
MostlyCivil

…if the initial research supports moving forward. Which he wants to skip.
Emily

Well not everyone is as patient as you. Many can't afford to be.
MostlyCivil

I'm not patient. I'm realistic. False hope is no hope.

You know that Zamboni is now telling people they should wait for the research, right?
http://twitter.com/jonatwitan @jonatwitan

OMG Emily are you serious? Did you forget the part about his wife having MS. Seriously, get a grip. And please just save me the stupid remark that is welling up in you even right now. Or go ahead and throw it out there, whatever.

john g

The most interesting bit might’ve resulted from a question submitted by Globe readers.

You don't think the bit about trying to force an election on a budget he hasn't read is interesting?

alfanerd

thanks for bringing that up. i cant find a macleans article about that. im curious why aaron wheery would choose to focus on this rather than Ignatieff's renewed eagerness to go to the polls.
http://www.jesserosenberg.com Jesse_Rosenberg

Sorry, do YOU think the budget will roll back corporate tax cuts, decide not to non-tender the F-35s, and so forth?

Or is it that only Cons are allowed to have policies that are "must-haves"?

john g

Seeing as how it hasn't been written yet I don't know. That's why it's always a wise idea to read something before you decide if you are going to vote against it or not; not to take a position 3 months in advance.

If he wants an election why not say he is withdrawing confidence and tabling a NCM rather than promise to vote against something he's never seen before?

http://www.jesserosenberg.com Jesse_Rosenberg

Well, I thought he said he doubted he'd be able to support the budget, based on what would be in it, and that he was willing to force an election on it if he didn't. I KNOW he said he'd read it before completely deciding. So if you have him saying "I'm going to force an election over the budget", I haven't seen it.

Mike T.

No facts please, this is HARPERLAND

evenflow

Stop lying.

I am curious though, how do you lie so easily? See, with me, I actually get a sick feeling in my stomach when I lie which leaves me wondering how some can do it so easily.

AaronWherry

"You don't think the bit about trying to force an election on a budget he hasn't read is interesting?"

Not particularly. First, it's a hypothetical. If the budget doesn't meet certain conditions, he doesn't plan on supporting it. Second, he can't force an election. We've been through this before. All three opposition parties have to vote against the budget to bring about an election. We're months away from knowing whether that's going to happen. And given that it hasn't happened in five years, the odds still favour the government not falling.

http://twitter.com/jonatwitan @jonatwitan

Aaron, very well put. You should join us down here more often.
john g

Fair enough. The headlines do seem to be a bit overly aggressive/provocative, though he should know better than to leave himself open to that kind of speculation.

Mandatory Jedi

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't health care a provincial responsibility? Also, does Ignatieff not know this?

Mike T.

If the federal government wants to fund it, they can. A provincial government could stop it within its borders with a specific law ("No MS research!") but in most cases there's no reason for them to do so.

The reality of health care in Canada is that both levels of government work pretty closely with each other to design and fund the system.
MostlyCivil

"Correct me if I'm wrong"

You're sort of wrong. As an earlier federal intervention on this topic, see this.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/09/01/ms-ccsv…
alfanerd

The constitution actually provides that hospitals are a provincial responsibility. There is a proper role for the federal government in healthcare, most particularly in the approval of new pharmaceuticals. And the feds have the "power to spend", which allows them to influence provincial responsibilities anyways.

There's no question the feds have the jurisdiction to fund this, although as a plan it reeks of opportunism and electoral posturing rather than sound policy. These funding decisions should be made by experts in the field, not politicians.

http://www.jesserosenberg.com Jesse_Rosenberg

You forgot eleemosynary institutions; how dare you go against our founding fathers?

Mike T.

I don't think this can be characterized as anything but an unfortunate misstep.

http://www.jesserosenberg.com Jesse_Rosenberg

Yeah, people are going to get really fired up about funding a scientific study. You start the Facebook page; I'll see you there.

tobyornotoby

Will there be T-shirts and buttons?

Emily

They were likely booing because the candidate was lying. A mayor doesn't have the resources to provide free tuition.
MostlyCivil

Alberta is offering to conduct "observational studies" of patients returning from out of country. They've said they will conduct actual clinical trials of the treeatment, at home, only if the observational trials (3 years) pan out.

Mr Ignatieff is suggesting we just jump ahead and start doing the treatment as part of a clinical trial right now, without waiting for the assorted earlier stage research to finish up.
Amateur Hour

Seven interviews at year end. I think that may top Harper's total for the entire year (or two).

MostlyCivil

Not to mention taking questions from live human beings. On the interwebs, even.
john g

I'm sure Harper will do year end interviews with all of the above, except probably the Canadian Press.

Emily

No, I thought you meant they were booing the idea of free tuition, which is unlikely.

Reminded me of someone running for high school council in my youth…he promised champagne in the drinking fountains. Everyone just laughed because they were aware it was a joke about politician's promises.

http://twitter.com/jonatwitan @jonatwitan

I think the point of the booing though was that the audience realized they were being pandered too, and did not like it….toby?

MostlyCivil

The student's looked at each other, realized the guy was treating them like idiots, and reacted accordingly.

And Toby, i don't think that's something that can ever be proven in a large group. Even after an election, trying to figure out what caused a vote one way or another is impossible. But makes for great work for columnists.

tobyornotoby

It was quite an election. As a friend of mine opined that it was the first mayoral race in Canada between a candidate that was openly gay and a candidate that was openly stupid. Ten points for anyone who can name the city.

sourstud

Does the one candidate share a name with a former member of the Boston Bruins?

Gary

I think it is Brad Wall in Sakatchewan that wants to fund a trial, much to the shagrin of Mr. Cosh I believe?????

MostlyCivil

Still unsure of what exactly the saskatchewanians are putting on the table.
john g

You are correct. I didn't read the article I linked to closely enough, but it says that Saskatchewan has $5M on the table for clinical trials

It also says that Ottawa is already funding 7 different research projects on liberation therapy.

I too get frustrated at the slow pace of medical research but I don't think that's an excuse for advocating that we skip steps in the process. Did Ignatieff not know about these initiatives? If he didn't, he should have.

MostlyCivil

There's a lot of confusion about the term "clinical trials". Not many health reporters left out there, so a lot of "science light" gets tossed around. I'll cut him some slack and assume he's confused. But he needs to clarify.

And the feds have some base-level research into veins and blockages/population and incidence. Those results are two years down the road, and the smart federal medical folks already said 'don't fund the procudure till we know more".

If Iggy needs an MS primer, my scientist-with-MS wife will be happy to walk him through it.

john g

Ah. Good to hear you know what you're talking about, but sorry to hear that it's under those circumstances. Best wishes.

MostlyCivil

Thanks. Yeah, sadly, experience is a wonderful teacher.

If you don't mind, I'll redirect those best wishes to the next person who tells her she's stupid for not going to Costa Rica for the treatment..

It's happened. Last time, I suggested to the distant family acquaintance that he might want to leave the room for a while, at least long enough to get his neurology degree. I mean, they say MS is fatal, but if that happens again, we may see a new statistical fatality category for MS.