Pauline Picard

[Community Action Program For Children, October 5th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. On May 13, 1993, the Government of Canada and the province of Quebec signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the implementation of the Community Action Program for Children. Under the terms of the MOU, grants were supposed to be paid no later than the end of August or the beginning of September. Unfortunately, for the most part, this has not been the case.

My question is this: Could the minister, who belongs to a government which seems to be suddenly very concerned about child poverty, explain why she waited until yesterday, Tuesday, October 4, to approve grant applications presented by community agencies working among these client groups?

[Blood Supply System, September 26th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, does the minister realize that by putting in place a policy to hide information the public has a right to know, she has made Canadians distrustful of a blood supply system already hurt by the tainted-blood tragedy?

[Blood Supply System, September 26th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health.

On September 12, the Minister of Health announced at a press conference that she would set up an advisory committee of experts whose role would be, among other things, to determine whether some of the information on the blood supply system should be disclosed or not. She said that given the current level of interest in this matter, she had to decide whether not releasing some of the information was still in the public interest.

How can the minister claim to act openly when she asked a committee of experts to tell her what she should hide from the public on the deficiencies of the blood supply system?

[Tainted Blood, September 22nd, 1994]

In fact, I noticed that we are quite different. I asked a new question and I heard the same thing again today for the second time because I asked yesterday. I would like to get a clear and precise answer.

How can the minister seriously claim that people are fully informed of the risks of blood transfusions when we have learned that the Montreal centre's director general had to request operational and procedural directives in French, if you please, which she is still waiting for?

[Tainted Blood, September 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, this does not make any sense any more.

[Tainted Blood, September 22nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health.

While Canadians are, with good reason, asking themselves serious questions about the blood supply system, the minister told the Canadian press that the reason Canadian standards are not as stringent as those in effect in the U.S. is that Canadian donors are volunteers.

How can the minister make such irresponsible comments when the tainted blood scandal of the early 1980s occurred under the volunteer donor system?

[Tainted Blood, September 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder whom we should believe. In response to a question I asked at a press conference, she told us that the American regulations have been changed. Then the Red Cross looks into it and says that there has been no change. I am trying to sort this out. I never get a straight answer.

I ask her the same question again: Was there, yes or no, any change in the American regulations? And I expect a clear answer.

[Tainted Blood, September 21st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health.

The minister said at a press conference on September 12 that the inspection carried out by the Food and Drug Administration resulted from a change in the American regulations.

How can the minister reconcile her statement with that made by Red Cross spokespersons who were saying exactly the opposite, namely that there had been no change in the American regulations.

[Tainted Blood, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, can the minister explain to me why she did not send a clear directive to the other Red Cross centres when she had in hand the American agency's report?

[Tainted Blood, September 20th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. The Canadian people are very concerned about the contaminated blood affair and the minister has an obligation to act openly to inform and reassure the population.

Why, in these circumstances, did the minister at her September 12 press conference hide from the Canadian people that the FDA was conducting on that same day another investigation at the Halifax Red Cross Centre?