Over 21,000 Canadians are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, including
68 women and men in every Federal riding in the country!  This
life-threatening illness affects entire communities, especially families,
friends and co-workers.

-Join CBCN's Adopt-A-Riding campaign. Contact Jackie Manthorne at
1-800-685-8820 or [log in to unmask] for more information.
-Call or e-mail the candidates in your riding and inform them of your
concerns. Please see Resources below for info on how to find out who is
running in your riding.
-Let the candidates in your riding know about your concerns about breast
cancer issues. Send them CBCN's five questions by going to Election
Connection on Charity Village at 
http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/ires/fedelection.html and following the
instructions. This is an easy and fast way of communicating with the
candidates in your riding.
-If your organization has a website or listserv, please post information
about our campaign. If your organization is planning to send out a
newsletter or other correspondence to your members before the election,
please consider including information about our campaign and our questions. 
-Let CBCN know what you've done and send us any responses that you receive!

CBCN's Questions

Question 1: Employment Insurance Sickness Benefits

In 2004, The Canadian Breast Cancer Network conducted a survey on the
financial costs of having breast cancer. When asked whether 15 weeks of
Employment Insurance benefits were enough to get them through treatment, 75%
of the 500 respondents said they were not long enough. Note that 76% of
respondents reported being off work for over 15 weeks.

If elected, will your government:
A) Immediately direct the Canada Employment Insurance Commission to ensure
that the section of the EI Monitoring and Assessment Report on EI special
benefit claims duration is broken down by illness?
B) Use the resulting information on benefit claims duration by illness to
lengthen sickness benefits for Canadians undergoing treatment for breast and
other cancers as well as other illness that require long periods of
treatment so that no one who is ill is penalized by the current limit of 15
weeks of sickness benefits?
C) Cancel the two-week waiting period for EI Sickness Benefits so that sick
Canadians are not penalized?
D) When will your government institute these changes?

Question 2:  Federal Funding for the Breast Cancer Networks in Canada

The Canadian Breast Cancer Network and the provincial and territorial breast
cancer networks have been funded through the Community Capacity Building
(CCB) program of the Canadian Breast Cancer Initiative (CBCI) since
1998-1999. The objectives of the Community Capacity Building program are to
enable networks to act/intervene at the level of communities; to create
improved conditions which allow people to access breast cancer information
and support; and to focus on network development and community dynamics
rather than individual behavior/outcomes. However, the networks have been
historically underfunded, with the entire annual amount of funding for the
entire country at $623,000. This amount has not been increased or adjusted
for inflation since the program's creation. In 2004, the provincial and
territorial networks and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network were offered
four-year funding, but with a 25% cut in funding each year of the last three
years of the funding period. By 2008, the entire annual amount of funding
for capacity building and increasing access to information and support
services to the 21,000 women newly-diagnosed with breast cancer each year
and the tens of thousands of women living with a breast cancer diagnosis in
Canada will be just $263,829, despite the expectation of a huge jump in
cancer rates as our population increases and ages.

If elected, will your government:
A) Immediately cancel the 25% cuts in funding?
B) In consultation with the networks, immediately develop a mechanism to
enable meaningful participation of the Canadian Breast Cancer Network and
the provincial/territorial breast cancer networks in determining adequate
funding levels for their grassroots capacity building activities?
C) Immediately upwardly adjust funding to the provincial/territorial breast
cancer networks and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network?
D) Ensure that there is permanent, dedicated funding to the Canadian Breast
Cancer Initiative (CBCI)?
E) Ensure that there is permanent dedicated funding to the Community
Capacity Building program under which the Canadian Breast Cancer Network and
the provincial/territorial breast cancer networks are funded to provide
capacity building at a grassroots level?

Question 3:  Wait Times

	Wait times for the diagnosis and treatment of breast and other
cancers continue to lengthen. If elected, how will your government:
A) Ensure that wait times are decreased across the country to meet national
best practice guidelines for acceptable wait times from an abnormal screen
to the diagnosis of breast cancer and from the diagnosis of breast cancer to
surgery and treatment?
B) Ensure faster approval of new drugs?
C) Ensure that women and men diagnosed with breast and other cancers who do
not have private drug coverage will still be able to have no- or low-cost
access to the drugs required in the treatment of breast and other cancers?

Question 4:  Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control

The Canadian Breast Cancer Network has been involved in efforts to create
the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control from the beginning. The Strategy
was developed by the cancer community in response to the increasing number
of new cancer cases in Canada. If this trend continues over the next 30
years, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates that almost 6 million Canadians
will be diagnosed with cancer; about 3 million will die from cancer; direct
cancer healthcare costs will be more than $176 billion and over $348 billion
in tax revenues will be lost because of disability due to cancer.

If your party is elected:
A) When will your government provide funding for the Canadian Strategy for
Cancer Control, a coordinated and comprehensive plan to fight cancer?
B) What is the amount of funding your government will commit over a five
year period to the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control?
C) What components of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control will be
funded?
D) How will your government ensure that the voice of patients and cancer
survivors is heard and that patients and cancer survivors are full
participants at every level of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control?
E) How much funding per year will your government allot to patient groups?
F) What will the funding to patient groups be for?

Question 5:   The Public Health Agency of Canada

According to its website, the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada
"marked the beginning of a new collaboration with provinces and territories
on efforts to renew the public health system in Canada and support a
sustainable health care system." 

If elected, will your government:
A) Ensure that funding allocated to the Public Health Agency of Canada
includes a significant, stable and dedicated amount of funding that is not
impacted by infectious diseases.
B) Ensure that there is a large amount of permanent, dedicated funding
within the Public Health Agency of Canada allocated to chronic diseases,
including cancer and breast cancer.
C) Ensure that there is a significant, permanent and dedicated funding
within the Public Health Agency of Canada allocated to the prevention of
chronic diseases, including cancer and breast cancer.

To find your candidate by party, go to the following websites:
Bloc québécois : http://www.blocquebecois.org/fr/videomaton_2005_liste.asp
Conservative Party of Canada: http://www.conservative.ca
Green Party of Canada: http://ridings.greenparty.ca/article325.html
Liberal Party of Canada: http://www.liberal.ca/candidates_e.aspx
New Democratic Party of Canada: http://www.ndp.ca/myriding/lookup

Jackie Manthorne
Executive Director/Directrice générale
Canadian Breast Cancer Network
Réseau canadien du cancer du sein
300-331 rue Cooper Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 0G5
Tel/Tél: 613-230-3044 ext/poste 222
Fax/Téléc: 613-230-4424
E-mail/couriel: [log in to unmask]
Website/Site web: www.cbcn.ca


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