Conservatives reject plan for dementia strategy

A bill to create a National Dementia Strategy for Canada proposed by the opposition New Democratic Party has been defeated in the House of Commons.

The bill, sponsored by NDP MP Claude Gravelle, lost by one vote, 140:139 on 6 May, with most government MPs voting against it (nine supported it).

The Conservative government announced in March that it opposed the bill, despite signing up to the G8 action plan on dementia in 2013. Canada is the only G8 country without a national strategy for dementia, because healthcare is primarily the responsibility of the provinces.