Ottawa will hand Health Canada's role as a cancer information clearinghouse to an independent group with the goal of saving more than 400,000 lives over 30 years, the government said Friday.

The non-profit Canadian Partnership Against Cancer "will be a pan-Canadian centre for information on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters at Montreal General Hospital, which served as a backdrop for the announcement.

Stephen Harper speaks after visiting Montreal General Hospital on Friday.
(CBC)

The agency will be provided with a $260 million federal bankroll for the next five years.

The group "will be completely independent and operate at arm's length," Harper said.

"Because health care is a provincial responsibility, this new national organization will not deal with the administration of policy or health-care programs. It will only ensure that best practices are used across Canada, that those best practices are known and are available to providers everywhere." he said.

"This initiative is the first complete and well co-ordinated approach to cancer control in Canada. From now on, when researchers or doctors in Quebec make a breakthrough, that new knowledge will immediately benefit patients in Alberta. When oncologists in British Columbia pioneer successful treatment, it will be available to patients in Quebec."

The prime minister did not discuss existing arrangements for sharing medical knowledge but said the new way will be a major improvement.

423,000 lives could be saved: Harper

"Make no mistake about it, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer is going to save lives. In fact, experts are predicting the strategy could pre-empt 1.2 million new cases of cancer and prevent over 400,000 cancer deaths over the next 30 years."

A statement from Harper's office put the estimate of saved lives at 423,000.

When asked how the numbers were calculated, he suggested that reporters ask the experts who developed the plan.

Dr. Brent Schacter, CEO of the Canadian Association of Provincial Cancer Agencies in Vancouver, told CBC News Online that a consultant took the expected number of cancer cases if an effective prevention and treatment strategy is used and plugged it into risk management software to come up with the numbers, which are a best-case scenario.

Schacter said Australia did a similar exercise for its national cancer strategy.

The agency's first chairman will be Jeffrey Lozon, president of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and the vice-chairman will be Dr. Simon Sutcliffe, head of the BC Cancer Agency, Harper announced.