Debates of April 29th, 1998

Hepatitis C

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Health.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, every government in the country, not just the federal government, looked at the history of this matter. They decided there was one period during which the harm could have been prevented.

We have offered compensation to people infected during that period. That is the right approach. It was the approach that was affirmed yesterday in the vote in the House of Commons.

Fisheries

[Bill Matthews, Progressive Conservative, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are protesting. Government services have been disrupted because the government turned its back on thousands of Atlantic Canadians.

The economic and social devastation in Atlantic Canada has been caused by gross mismanagement of our groundfish stocks by the Government of Canada. The number of fishing vessels, harvesting technologies and fish quotas are all decisions of the government.

When will the government live up to its responsibility and provide continued income support to those thousands of Atlantic Canadians whose lives it has ruined?

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, we have been working very hard. We brought in a $1.9 billion program to help the people when we realized there was a cod crisis in Atlantic Canada.

We are looking at the post-TAGS environment as we realize the fish are not coming back. There is a problem. We realize it. We are addressing it and we are working very hard. When we are ready we will be making an announcement.

[Bill Matthews, Progressive Conservative, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister of HRDC should have been ready. You have known for three years that this problem was coming to a head.

[The Speaker]

Would the hon. member please address the question to the Chair.

[Bill Matthews, Progressive Conservative, Burin—St. George's, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the minister should have known.

The provincial governments in Atlantic Canada do not have responsibility over our groundfish stocks. The fishermen have no groundfish management control. The unions do not have any control. The processors do not have any control.

The minister has all the control. Will he do the honourable thing? Because of his gross mismanagement—

[The Speaker]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the member that the problem and the mismanagement of the fish stocks in that area happened when the Conservative government was in power.

After we formed the government in 1993 we offered compensation and a program of $1.9 billion for the first time to help them survive this change.

The member should remember that the Conservatives created the problem and this government has worked on the solution.

Hepatitis C

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister chose the vote over the victims.

I will never forget that young boy up in the gallery. I never will forget that 15-year old boy, Joey Haché. He had the nerve to stand up to the Prime Minister but his own Liberal MP did not. Hon. members may laugh but Joey Haché has to get blood transfusions every single week just to stay alive. We are blessed that we are not in that position but it does not change his.

Let me ask the Prime Minister, why is he forcing Joey and others like him to go to court for compensation?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to the hon. member that I travel in Alberta. When I visit rural parts of Alberta, there are native Canadians who live in difficult conditions, I realize that the hon. member wants us to cut the money that is going to the natives of Canada. I will never forget that they want to cut in this case—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Edmonton North.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, rural Albertans and Albertans in general have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. They would be ashamed to see the behaviour of the government right now.

Joey needs to go to court. Joey needs blood transfusions every week. Instead he is going to have to go to court and the minister said “Oh, no, you won't have to do that”. He needs to spend time with his family.

The Prime Minister hopes this matter is over now but it is not. It will not go away. Does the Prime Minister really expect the victims to just go away and forget about his betrayal to them? Does he want them to just go away?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there is a national health care system and hospitals in Canada where this individual can go to receive the treatment he needs, paid for by the state.

It is not what the Reform Party would like to do. When I travel in Canada I see young people who are worried about pension benefits. At the time of retirement they will want to have a pension. I will always remember that the Reform Party does not want to guarantee to young Canadians that they will have a pension plan forever.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the government successfully gagged those Liberal members who wanted assistance to be provided to all victims of hepatitis C.

What does the Prime Minister have to say to his members, including the hon. member for Gatineau, who stated again this morning that the fight for hepatitis C victims was not over?

Did he definitely close the door on this issue yesterday or did he suggest to his members in private that work was continuing to eventually provide assistance to hepatitis C victims? We want to know.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, we have come to an agreement with the Quebec health minister in this matter.

I too have a question. I noticed that today the opposition in Quebec moved a motion similar to the one we dealt with yesterday in this House. Will Lucien Bouchard and Jean Rochon allow a free vote on this motion?

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they should be the ones paying compensation, not the National Assembly. They are the ones with the money. How dare the government reject out of hand—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how dare the government reject out of hand the hepatitis C victims' claim, when the auditor general himself just reminded the government that the army has spent $2 billion on equipment that does not even meet its needs?

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Now I have seen everything, Mr. Speaker. Members of the Bloc Quebecois are now advocating centralization.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Jean Chrétien, Liberal, Saint-Maurice, QC]

They would have the federal government interfere in health because, unlike the PQ in Quebec, we can manage our finances in such a way as to produce a surplus.

[Reed Elley, Reform, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has been doubling and tripling the number of hep C victims he feels are infected. The minister uses a bogus number to bully his caucus members into turning their backs on hepatitis C victims seeking justice. He is simply making up numbers to scare people into believing that a fair compensation package jeopardizes our health care system.

I ask him to prove his claim. Table the documents in this House that show how many are infected.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this month the Reform Party is cloaking itself in the cloth of compassion but it has a little problem. The problem is credibility. Canadians remember that it is the party that would gut medicare. Canadians know that they are the members who would eliminate the Canada pension plan. Canadians are not prepared to believe that the Reform Party is truly on the side of the victims. They know if the Reform Party were in power, the victims would get nothing.