Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise this morning in support of the Reform motion, which states “That this House urges the government to act on the recommendation of Justice Horace Krever to compensate all victims who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood.”
When my leader made me responsible for health upon my arrival here in 1993, the tainted blood scandal was one of the very first issues I had to look into. I did so with great compassion for the victims of this tragedy. There are no words to describe what has certainly been one of the worst scandals of modern day medicine in Canada.
Since 1993, the Bloc Quebecois has asked more than 100 questions about the inquiry into the tainted blood scandal. These questions were always intended to advance the inquiry presided by Justice Krever. Parliamentarians will recall that this inquiry ran into some roadblocks. These roadblocks were not always set up by people outside this Parliament. The government of the day seemed intent on throwing a monkey wrench into the process so as to stifle the tainted blood inquiry.
The blood inquiry has gone on for four years and cost $15 million. We also know that documents that could have been very useful to the inquiry were destroyed and that this did not seem to worry the government unduly, because those who destroyed the documents have gone unpunished.
There were also the attempts to block Judge Krever's efforts through the courts. These attempts were never justified, any more than the sometimes extreme comments made about the inquiry.
In November 1996, the Prime Minister maintained that the law prevented him from disclosing documents that included transcripts of cabinet deliberations in 1984, the time when scientists were sounding warnings about the discovery of a dangerous new virus in blood banks.
We are being told that only those who contracted the disease between 1986 and 1990 are being compensated because, although that was when the facts were known, preventive measures had not been taken. We know that there were cabinet transcripts setting out the situation as early as 1984, so why were these documents not disclosed? One could suspect that they contained evidence that the government was starting to realize back then that the hepatitis C virus and other viruses were contaminating blood.
Under the current program announced by the federal and provincial health ministers in Toronto on March 27, the federal and provincial governments are going to contribute $1.1 billion to a compensation fund for hemophiliacs who contracted the disease, but only if they did so between January 1, 1986 and July 1, 1990.
This fund will also be used to help those individuals infected by a spouse or parent during this period, as well as those who contracted HIV from a spouse or parent infected by blood or blood products.
Of this amount, the federal government's share will be $800 million. The provinces will put up the other $300 million, and will contribute an additional $1.6 billion over the next 30 years for drugs and various forms of health care.
In my opinion, this represents an enormous effort, in these times of tight budgets and cuts to federal payments to the provinces.
The program is restricted to victims who contracted hepatitis C between 1986 and 1990, because the Red Cross and the governments did not take advantage of tests available, in the U.S. in particular, during that time. Prior to 1986, there was no effective test for detecting the disease, which was not known in the form hepatitis C takes today. The governments therefore acted in accordance with what was known at the time.
In my opinion, this program and the governments which signed it were in good faith. Now, however, with a bit of hindsight, we see certain signs that could enlighten us as to the birth of this program and all that could be added to it. We should keep in mind that the provinces will have to spend another $300 million, in addition to providing all health care services and drugs required, at a time when they have just experienced extraordinary cuts to the Canada social transfer.