Mr. Speaker, we have here one of those common sense type bills. It is one of those bills that looks into what is good in society and what would protect the health and the good nature of people. The bill would address good Samaritan activities. It would address the protection of good Samaritans, health workers and emergency workers.
I think all members of the House have at one time or another been in contact with an emergency worker. We have extended a helping hand to someone in an accident, whether on the highway or somewhere else, or have wanted to extend a helping hand but were not sure of the conditions of the situation. Emergency workers such as firefighters, police officers and security personnel are often subjected to cases where they do not know all the risks.
The hon. member brought forward the bill with the noblest of intentions. His intentions are not only noble but practical. The member wants to give as much protection as possible to people who are subjected to risks of which they are perhaps unaware. However there seems to be a feeling that any individual who suspects something can demand a blood test.
There is a safeguard in the bill. The safeguard is a judge. Judges are people who have demonstrated and exercised good judgment in the past. That is why they are judges. They help us interpret the law. They make sure the law is applied, as far as humanly possible, in a fair and equitable way. That is what we are after.
When individuals are put into questionable situations they may be subject to risk. The bill looks at three kinds of risks: hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV. The bill focuses on these three risks and no others. The presence of these diseases can be detected by a blood test. Is the test foolproof? Of course it is not. No test in the world is absolutely foolproof. However it is good enough to ask a judge that it be administered.
Why do people suggest it would be an intrusion into privacy? The greatest intrusion into people's privacy is to shorten their lives by infecting them with a disease. Drawing a couple of drops of blood and subjecting someone to a test is no great infringement on anything. It would be done through the auspices of a judge and through careful analysis of the situation. I do not know of anything more common sense and humane than that. We should all be supporting the bill with everything we have.
How can we not support the bill? We need only look at the absolute volume of organizations that support it. All kinds of organizations support the bill. I am talking about police departments and associations, and 18 such organizations support the bill.
This is not one group of policemen in some city somewhere. These are national and provincial police associations.
Let us go another step. We have security guard unions and associations. I have eight groups here. Who are some of these groups? The Union of Solicitor General Employees is a pretty sophisticated group. We have the Correctional Officers' Association of Ontario. We have the National Office of the Commissionaires and the North Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario and Nova Scotia divisions of the Commissionaires. Not only do we have groups on a national level, we have them on the provincial level. People in these groups are all emergency workers.
We go beyond those groups to include hospitals, health boards and nursing associations. Some 26 different groups support the bill.
We should pay special attention to health workers. Can anyone imagine a situation that is more significant to the welfare of our society than to have a sound and healthy group of health practitioners? Do we want to subject them to unusual and unnecessary risk? We should do everything we possibly can to protect their safety and to assure them that everything is being done to ensure they are not infected due to the risks that are inherent in the profession they are pursuing.
It is not only health workers. I have two other groups here, the paramedic associations and the ambulance services. My heart goes out to these people in a very particular way. They are the frontline people when an accident happens and no one knows for sure what will happen in a situation like that. These are very experienced people who can usually recognize when there may be an unusual risk of exposure in a particular accident or in a particular development. They often know when they have been pricked by a needle, cut by a knife, or have cut themselves on a zipper or on a piece of metal from a vehicle. If they see blood on their hands they do not know if they have been exposed to an infectious disease. Should we not give them every opportunity to have as much protection as possible? Surely that is not unreasonable.
I cannot for a minute believe that anybody would oppose the bill.
I have just talked about the paramedic associations and ambulance services, but we are still not finished. We also have the fire departments. The same set of arguments can be used here when people are going into a building that is on fire. These firemen, who enter buildings filled with fire, smoke and heat, could also suffer a cut to their face or hands no matter how much protective clothing they wear. It will happen. Should these people not have maximum protection? I believe they should. I believe judges are very sympathetic to that.
Someone mentioned to me that there may be abuses with a test like this. What kind of an abuse could there be if members have to appeal to the highest law enforcement office in the land for an interpretation? Are we really suggesting that judges would abuse this kind of a provision to hurt someone else? Would they really to do something like that? I cannot for a second believe that this would be a legitimate concern. I cannot imagine what kind of a reason that might be, but it would have to be an excuse that is manufactured, not one that is resting on common sense or past experience.
I am not finished. I have many other groups, such as the Victims Resource Centre in the city of Nicolet, Quebec, the Retail Loss Prevention Association of British Columbia, and another group from Quebec.
The hon. member from the Bloc mentioned some instances where this might be an intrusion into somebody's privacy. We have dealt with that to at least a small degree. I think even that member, when he thinks through what he said, did not actually mean everything he said. I think what he really wanted to say is that we should maintain the privacy of individuals, but we also wanted to protect their safety and ensure that is the case.
I am sure after analyzing carefully what he said the hon. member would say that he could trust judges, even those judges in Quebec where he suggested there might be intrusion. I believe the judges in Quebec are just as capable of doing this as properly as anyone else. I hope we can encourage everyone to vote in favour of the bill.