Debates of May 13th, 1998

Hepatitis C

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

Mr. Speaker, the health minister has to blow his own horn because the editorialists certainly are not these days.

Jonathon Duncan had 16 blood transfusions between 1983 and 1986. One transfusion falls in the 1986 to 1990 compensation window but because of a technicality he is not eligible. So much for one tiered approaches.

The minister promised his mother that if she hung in there he would help. Instead the minister has hung Jonathon out to dry.

Will the health minister do the right thing and compensate all victims, or will he go back on his word once again?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the member will find that it is dangerous to use examples for partisan purposes.

A few weeks ago they were talking about a 15 year old boy. They were saying that 15 year old boy was excluded from the compensation offer. When we found out the facts of the case we discovered that the little boy was covered. I caution the member to be careful.

Rather than engage in that, I will be at the table tomorrow with provincial ministers from around the country to see if a new consensus can be reached on this important issue.

Young Offenders Act

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Justice capitulated under pressure from the Reform Party and from the western provinces and toughened the Young Offenders Act even further.

If it is true, as she said yesterday in her presentation, that she borrowed considerably from the Quebec approach, why did she not manage to convince the West to accept the Young Offenders Act as it stands, and as Quebec has done successfully?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, the government response we tabled yesterday speaks to the balanced and integrated approach I have often referred to in the House.

Our government response tabled yesterday speaks to the importance of prevention, speaks to the importance of meaningful consequences and speaks to the importance of rehabilitation. I would hope those are all values everyone in the House would support.

[Michel Bellehumeur, Bloc, Berthier—Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the problem is not the law, but its application, and this is the opinion of all Quebeckers involved.

Even her predecessor, the minister sitting beside her, said at the time, and I quote “The government continues to believe the youth justice system is a valid one and supports it”.

Having heard the opinions of experts and of her predecessor, how does the minister explain her shift to the right, except as a means of getting easy votes in western Canada?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I reassure the hon. member, as I have said before, that this response speaks to balance. It speaks to fundamental values that are shared by all Canadians regardless of where they live.

Let me inform the hon. member and the House that this morning the Canadian School Boards Association, l'Association canadienne des commissions de conseils scolaires, endorsed the government response in relation to young offenders.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the justice minister had her splashy press conference about the broken Young Offenders Act.

She did speak a lot but she did not exactly do anything. She did not change a single section in the law. She did not hire one more police officer or a single social worker.

Is she soft on crime or just buying time?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, let me say that the government's response, the government's strategy for the renewal of the youth justice system, is plain. It does not take the simplistic uni-dimensional myopic approach of the Reform Party.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

Colleagues, I encourage you not to shout out when answers are being given or when questions are being asked. I encourage you to do that throughout question period.

[Deborah Grey, Reform, Edmonton North, AB]

Mr. Speaker, if that is her strategy it is a tragedy and nothing more. It has taken 337 days for the justice minister to come up with a press conference. After all was said and done, a lot was said but nothing was done.

For months the justice minister has kept telling us that she would have her legislation ready in a timely fashion. How many more days will it take for Canadians to get real legislation to do something about the Young Offenders Act? Where is the bill?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I have said often in the House that we would table our government response to the standing committee report in a timely fashion.

In fact I tabled that government response yesterday. Yesterday I made it plain that I would be introducing legislation in the fall.

Poverty

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the statistics on poverty reveal not only the federal government's inability to fight poverty effectively but also its contribution to increasing the number of poor people in Canada.

How does the Minister of Finance explain the fact that, despite Canada's increased wealth, incomes continue to drop and poverty continues to rise?

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

Mr. Speaker, the data cited by the member of the opposition dates from before 1996, according to Statistics Canada.

Almost half the jobs created in the economy since this government's arrival in office date from 1996 and, more particularly, 1997. This indicates therefore a visible improvement in the lives of our fellow Canadians.

[Yvan Loubier, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am addressing the Minister of Finance, because this is of concern to him.

Since 1988, the cost of living has gone up by 27%, whereas the Canadian tax system was indexed at only 6.5%.

Is the Minister of Finance aware that bracket creep is one of the factors increasing middle class family poverty and that he should index all tax tables as of this year?

[Paul Martin, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member kept up with matters he would realize that we have made targeted reductions to help single parent families, poor children, parents saving for their children's education and persons with disabilities.

We have cut taxes by over $7 billion, which will help poor families and the middle class in Canada.

Young Offenders Act

[Chuck Cadman, Reform, Surrey North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the justice minister admitted that the Young Offenders Act was seriously flawed. The act was amended in 1995 by her seatmate in the House so her comments would appear to be a reflection on her predecessor and indeed the government.

The minister appears to have a keen grasp of the obvious. I ask her why after five years in power Canadians still do not have effective legislation.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I indicated yesterday in the government response that it is indeed time to renew our country's youth justice system.

I also indicated—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

The hon. Minister of Justice has the floor.

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Edmonton West, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I also indicated yesterday that I would be introducing legislation as part of our renewal package in the fall.

[Chuck Cadman, Reform, Surrey North, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister admitted that her mere promise for change did not have caucus approval for funding and did not have provincial support in a cost sharing scheme.

Is it not obvious we still have months or even years to go before we receive effective legislation?

[Anne McLellan, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that the official opposition's obsession seems to be with legislation. We have not heard one word from them today about the content, about the proposals, about the balance between prevention and meaningful consequences and rehabilitation. I find that very interesting.

Hepatitis C

[Maurice Dumas, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the meeting with his provincial counterparts on the hepatitis C issue is scheduled for tomorrow, we are still wondering what the position of the Minister of Health will be.

The cat may have been let out of the bag this morning, as a newspaper reported that the Minister of Health will let those infected before 1986 down yet again.

Will the minister confirm information to the effect that his government has no intention of extending its compensation package to hepatitis C victims infected before 1986 and after 1991?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I have said repeatedly that the purpose of tomorrow's meeting is to determine whether a new consensus can be achieved. I hope that all health ministers will be at the table. We shall see tomorrow.