Mr. Speaker, on March 27 the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health announced the strategy to deal with the hepatitis C infections from our blood system.
They have worked hard to put together a very substantial plan. Up to $1.1 billion will be used to address harms that might have been prevented had things been done differently between 1986 and 1990 in our blood system. This will provide for up to 22,000 people.
Our approach to this terrible situation is one that is not based purely on court cases, nor is it all about money. It is about finding the best way to resolve these issues without creating other problems in the process.
Canadian society has not yet discussed, never mind decided about no fault insurance for its health care system. We had to be careful not to embark on that road before these discussions could take place.
They also had to address the court actions against the federal government. They could have just allowed those to continue, but the federal health minister is on the record as having supported the idea of trying to steer these cases away from the courts before we started the process leading to the federal, provincial and territorial governments' announcement last month. Trying to avoid the courts was something they wanted to see happen and they are hoping their approach will lead to that as soon as possible.
The Minister of Health has answered questions about the rationale for hepatitis C assistance. He has explained the parameters that Canadian governments have established. He has explained the dangers of being careless in making this kind of public policy; that is, the dangers of being hasty and irresponsible.
To the hon. member opposite I say it is not a question of what is right or what is wrong, it is a question of what is the responsible thing to do on behalf of all Canadians.