Mr. Speaker, in the period before 1986 hepatitis C was not even known. It was called non-A, non-B hepatitis. In the period before 1986 people in the medical system, acting in the best of faith and with the scientific and medical knowledge of the day, did the best they could. There are risks and benefits in every medical procedure.
In these cases, tragically, before 1986 that risk benefit worked out in the case of tainted blood to cause infections with hepatitis C. However, the period 1986 to 1990 was the period during which something could have been done and was not done. It is for that reason, as a matter of principle, that we distinguished that period from all the others.