OTTAWA—Two members of Parliament with dramatically different political affiliations have joined forces in an effort to establish a national strategy to deal with dementia.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Rob Nicholson is the architect of a private member’s bill that, if passed, would establish a Canada-wide framework for dealing with mental-health conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. He has the support of an unlikely ally: Liberal MP Rob Oliphant.
Alzheimer’s hits close to home for Nicholson. His father struggled with the disease before he died in 1997.
“I am, in many ways, no different than millions of other Canadians who are either related to or know somebody that has (Alzheimer’s),” he said.
The number of Canadians living with Alzheimer's and similar conditions is expected to soar to 1.4 million by 2031
