Madam Speaker, the Government of Canada met the provincial and territorial representatives and, in March 1998, the Minister of Health announced a plan to provide financial assistance of $1.1 billion to the thousands of victims.
By working collaboratively with the lawyers for the class action plaintiffs, we reached a settlement agreement which was approved by the Ontario, B.C. and Quebec courts in December 1999. This was only possible because the Government of Canada went to the provinces and to the claimants and proposed a solution to spare everyone the potential of even longer litigation.
Immediately following approval of the settlement, the Government of Canada transferred some $855 million into a trust fund in order to compensate the complainants. In doing so, the Government of Canada met all its obligations under the settlement.
The federal government is very anxious that the administrator begin processing claims and make payments as soon as possible.
Rest assured that our government is committed to helping all Canadians infected by the hepatitis C virus.