Madam Speaker, I am on my feet to go back after the health minister in regard to a question I put to him in June prior to the House recessing for the summer regarding the hepatitis C victims.
A majority of Canadians are very upset by the government's determination that it would only compensate those victims from 1986 to 1990. We feel that is fundamentally wrong. We feel that it is wrong for a number of reasons but primarily the victims we are talking about prior to 1986 and certainly some even after 1990 are all innocent victims of a tainted blood scandal.
I go back to Justice Krever's recommendation that all victims should be compensated because there was wrongdoing on many levels. I just want to give a couple of examples of that.
One is that we actually brought blood into this country that came out of the U.S. prison system. Think about it. Sick Canadians were given blood given by U.S. prisoners. I think we know what goes on in prisons. We will not go into detail. Some Canadians contracted hepatitis C because of that very error and all the other difficulties surrounding this issue.
The government holds fast on its position that we will not compensate those innocent victims outside of the convenient timeframe of 1986 to 1990. The only reason the minister can give is because those years 1986 to 1990 are the years that we most likely could not defend ourselves if it did go to the courts. In other words it would be very difficult for the government to defend its position in those years.
A victim who contracted hepatitis C on December 31, 1985 would not be compensated but a victim who contracted hepatitis C a day later on January 1, 1986 would be compensated. This is absolutely bizarre and it is absolutely wrong. We are going to continue to fight on this side of the House along with a lot of other Canadians to make sure there is fairness in this compensation package. All victims should be compensated.
We often blame the health minister. I am going to be fairly generous to him and say he has most likely tried as hard as he could in cabinet to get compensation for those victims. At the end of the day it falls at the doorstep of the government, the leader of the government, the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister conveniently falls into the role of the little humble man from Shawinigan. Water just runs off his back. Talk about being coated in Teflon. This Prime Minister is absolutely and totally coated with Teflon from top to bottom.
Can the Prime Minister not step back a little from this issue and look at it for its seriousness? Actually the human compassion and the need to compensate all victims—