OTTAWA — The Senate has passed a private member’s bill on Lyme disease, the first Green party bill to ever pass both houses of Parliament.
The legislation sponsored by Green party Leader Elizabeth May won Commons approval last June and now only needs royal assent to become law.
It asks the government to call a conference of provincial and territorial ministers, medical experts and representatives of patient groups to develop a comprehensive Lyme disease strategy.
The strategy would include a national program to track rates of infections, and establish guidelines for preventing infections and diagnosing and treating them when they occur.
Lyme is a tick-borne disease with symptoms that include a rash, fever, headache and fatigue.
May, the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, said the bill could not have passed without the support of the government.
Although the legislation passed with all-party support, part of it was opposed by an organization representing infectious diseases specialists.
The Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Canada was concerned that the bill appears to support the idea that significant numbers of people suffer from a condition they believe to be chronic Lyme disease and that they have been failed by a medical system that refuses to accept that diagnosis.
Several organizations say the existence of chronic Lyme disease is based on pseudo-science, while others claim it is a real and debilitating condition.
May said her bill is neutral on the subject.
