Reed Elley

[Hepatitis C, April 1st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the health minister keeps talking about the excellent research we have in this country. He should really acquaint himself with it.

I want to clear up a factual error the health minister keeps on repeating. He says there was no way to detect hepatitis C in the blood supply before 1986. So he will not compensate people who contracted the disease before then. That is not the truth.

Justice Krever noted that Dr. Moore of the Canadian Red Cross laboratory proposed a test as far back as May 1981. Shamefully, no tests would be implemented for nine more years.

Enough phoney excuses.

[Hepatitis C, March 31st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the government did not use those kinds of excuses when the AIDS victims were asking for compensation.

People who contracted AIDS from blood transfusions are being paid, even if they contracted AIDS before the AIDS test was implemented in 1985. The government did not use legal technicalities then.

Innocent Canadians are dying because of the government's blood system. It is a tragedy and we need to help them.

I have a very simple question. Why is this government setting up two tiers of victims in this country?

[Hepatitis C, March 31st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to know why this Prime Minister thinks some victims' lives are worth more than others. I want to know why he is helping some of the dying but ignoring the rest.

Tens of thousands of people who contracted hepatitis C from the blood system are now being abandoned, but every single Canadian who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion is being fully compensated, as they should be.

Both of these groups are suffering and dying because of their blood. Why do all AIDS victims get compensation but not all hepatitis C victims?

[Health, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think the people who sent letters to me about this issue will accept the minister's response at all. This could be a scandal as great as the tainted blood scandal itself.

I have received numerous letters from people who are in this situation. Why are they to be denied compensation, a chance for a better life from this government which refuses to abide by the very recommendations of its own report?

[Health, March 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the treatment of victims in Canada's blood scandal by the government has been unequalled. All hepatitis C sufferers in this tragedy deserve equal treatment with the HIV or AIDS victims who suffered the same fate.

Why is the minister discriminating against those who contracted hepatitis C before 1986? Why will he not agree to compensate them too?

[Petitions, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I will refrain from doing that.

I also have a petition, containing about 150 names, from constituents who indicate to the House of Commons that the GST is the first federal tax in Canadian history to apply to reading materials.

The petitioners urge Parliament to remove the GST from all books, magazines and newspapers.

[Petitions, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition from about 150 constituents, indicating that the GST—

[Petitions, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36, it is my pleasure to present several petitions from my constituents in Nanaimo—Cowichan.

One petition deals with the multilateral agreement on investment. The petitioners are concerned that the Government of Canada has been involved in negotiating this deal behind closed doors and that the people of Canada have not been consulted on this deal.

The petitioners respectfully ask Parliament to impose a moratorium on the ratification of the MAI until there are full public hearings so that all Canadians have an opportunity to express their opinions on it.

I concur with this petition.

[Young Offenders Act, March 18th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as the justice minister dreams about changes to the Young Offenders Act, violent acts among youth are escalating and reveal why the Young Offenders Act should be scrapped.

Recently in my riding 20 to 30 youths converged on a south Nanaimo home and attacked a 14-year old girl. While most of the cowards involved rampaged throughout the home, some of the more violent youth in the mob severely beat Cammy Hamilton.

Unlike Reena Virk, this young girl survived, but the beating was severe enough that the girl was wakened every few hours by her mother so she would not go into a coma.

This attack is another example of how some Canadian teenagers are taking violence to a new level. It is also further proof that 14 years of failed young offenders legislation is to blame. Young people know they will receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist when they commit such horrendous crimes.

Reformers call upon this justice minister to forget about tinkering with the Young Offenders Act and to come up with something that finally protects Canadians.

[Hepatitis C, March 12th, 1998]

Madam Speaker, Justice Krever concludes that the treatment of victims in Canada's blood scandal has been unequal and that compensating some needy sufferers and not others cannot be justified. Yet the federal health minister still continues to deny compensation for the estimated 60,000 Canadians who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood.

More insulting to many of these victims is the likelihood that the federal government will in a truly meanspirited gesture only offer compensation to those who contracted the disease between 1986 and 1990. Apparently the bean counters and lawyers over at justice and health are confident they can limit the government's financial liability by cheating about half the victims who contracted hepatitis C out of compensation.

Reformers call upon this government to immediately offer compensation to all hepatitis C victims and not just those who contracted the virus after 1986. Shame on this health minister for not having done so already because to those seriously ill or dying, justice and compensation delayed is justice and compensation denied.