Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the debate today with considerable interest.
Obviously it is an issue that has gripped the country. People are quite aware of the issue now. They have followed it very closely and I think that Canadians are always compassionate.
When we look at the facts in this case we cannot help but support the position taken not only by the Reform Party but by all oppositions parties. I should pay tribute to members of all parties who have spoken today in the interests of standing up for Canadians. I say that of members of the opposition.
Let us go back through the chronology. In October 1993 the government appointed a commission. It appointed Justice Krever to look into the contamination of the blood system. We had an interim report in February 1995 and a final report in November of last year. In that report Justice Krever made the recommendation that all victims should be compensated.
We know, for instance, that AIDS/HIV victims going back to 1978 were compensated. They were all compensated. Justice Krever has made the judgment that all of the victims of hepatitis C should also be compensated.
I point out to the health minister that it is the justice who this government appointed who is making that recommendation. It is not another government, it is his judge who chaired the commission to bring forward these types of recommendations. We are simply pointing out that it is the government's own committee with its own expert review that has made these recommendations. We are simply asking them to listen to Justice Krever's advice and to do as he suggested.
It is not only in Canada that this advice has been followed. We have heard over the last couple of days how the Government of Ireland eventually had to yield to considerable public pressure because of the public's superior moral conscience which forced its government to pay compensation to all victims.
I would urge the government to listen to its own conscience and to finally come around to the point of view that it must start to compensate all victims.
The government has drawn an arbitrary line. It says January 1986 is the point at which it will start to pay compensation. As other members have pointed out, in other parts of the world testing was already under way, going back to 1981, which would have detected hepatitis C.
I point out in response to questions from the health minister that when a federal body takes on a responsibility to regulate something like the blood system, implied in that is responsibility and culpability. When the federal government steps in as a regulator the public has the right to assume that the government is taking all reasonable steps to ensure that it is doing its job, that it is getting the best possible information and that it is reaching out around the world to find out, in this case, whether or not there are tests available to determine whether there are things like hepatitis C lurking in blood. It did not do that and it should therefore be culpable. It is that straightforward.
The justice minister wants us to absolve the government of all blame. He is essentially justifying not paying compensation on the basis of the tardiness of the regulating agency to use other tests that were available around the world. The regulating agency was responsible for not utilizing all the available means to ensure that the blood system was safe. If it did not take those steps, then it is culpable. It is that straightforward.
I say in response to the health minister's speech of a few minutes ago that the regulating agency simply did not do its job. It simply did not use all available means at the time, which is why Justice Krever ruled that everybody should receive compensation.
The second point I want to go to is the idea of a free vote. I say to the health minister, the former justice minister, that if he is so convinced of his position, then allow this issue to go to a free vote. If he really believes that the federal government has no more responsibility previous to 1986 then let us ask him to put his position on the line with his own members. If he really believes in that, let us ask him to put his position on the line. Does he not trust his ability to make a persuasive argument to his own caucus? Let us let the people's representatives make that decision.
Today in the House we know that the leaders of the respective opposition parties got up and said “We do not view this as a vote of non-confidence. This is not a confidence motion”.
We also know the government has spoken in the past. It has written volumes about how it would allow more free votes. We view this issue as a moral issue. We say that this is an issue whereby the public should have the right to be represented by their representatives in the House of Commons. Let us have the government now finally put its money where its mouth is. Let us have it actually bring this motion to a free vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
We know there is a three line whip. People are being called back from all over the country. They are being told to be here, not to vote freely, but to vote against the motion, to vote against their own consciences, to vote against what their constituents are telling them.
No matter what theory of representation they believe in, they cannot possibly believe in one whereby the government says “it is my way or the highway” irrespective of what the public is telling them, irrespective of what their conscience tells them, especially when opposition party members have said they do not view this as a confidence motion.
I conclude my remarks by saying that if the government truly believes it is on the moral high ground here, then let us put this issue to members in a free vote. That is the true test. That is the real way to find out whether or not the government's arguments have carried the day. Because if those arguments are as persuasive as the health minister thinks they are, the government will have no problem carrying just a very few members on the government side that it will need to win the vote.