Mr. Speaker, I rise today pursuant to Standing Order 36 to present a petition from 525 residents of the province of British Columbia who are concerned about the hepatitis C debate that is ongoing in Canada.
These petitioners draw the attention of the House to the following. Whereas the majority of Canadians are in favour of fair compensation for all victims of tainted blood; whereas research indicates that the validity of the surrogate testing was available in 1981 as opposed to the 1986 year stated by the hon. health minister; whereas the number of infected individuals appears to have been dramatically overstated by the Minister of Health; therefore the petitioners pray and request that parliament revisit the issue of hepatitis C compensation to reflect the concerns of the citizens of Canada, to offer a fair, compassionate and humane compensation package to all who received infected blood.