Allan Rock

[Hepatitis C, June 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member does not understand the process. Ministers have asked the working group of officials to meet as they are doing now in Edmonton to examine all the options we put before them and to report back to the ministers so a decision can be made.

In terms of leadership, it is as a result of the leadership of the Prime Minister of this government that we have an offer of assistance being made already to some 22,000 people who contracted hepatitis C through the blood system. As for the rest, let us await the process.

[Hepatitis C, June 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member ought not to think the talks have broken down. There are no negotiations going on in Edmonton. It is a group of officials working to develop options for the ministers to consider. Those talks are going very well.

Just at the end of yesterday some representatives of hepatitis C groups said they were very satisfied with the progress being made. I think we ought to let that process conclude and then we will know where we go from there.

[Hepatitis C, June 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of federal leadership at the meeting going on in Edmonton as we speak, the working group is examining options that will be put before the ministers for consideration at the appropriate time.

That is a good process. I expect the hon. member and in fact all members of the House will wait until it is concluded and we can judge it based on the results.

[Hepatitis C, June 1st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we believe it is important to let these officials do their work. They are together right now examining the options. They have representatives of the Hepatitis C Society there answering questions and responding to specific factual matters that we raised.

Let us let the working group do its job and then we will be in a position to assess where we go from there.

[Hepatitis C, June 1st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is not health ministers who are meeting. It is senior officials from all governments. A number of options are before those senior officials.

I should stress to the member and to the House that the federal government has not taken any final position in relation to any of them. We think it is important to do the homework first to find out whether there is a basis for a national consensus because that is in the interest of those with hepatitis C.

[Hepatitis C, June 1st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member would do well to recall that it is precisely to spare people unnecessary litigation that the government initiated a process which resulted in the offer to some 22,000 people who were infected between 1986 and 1990.

As to the rest, the member would have us put the cart before the horse. We prefer to do the homework first, and that is why all interested parties are at work this week on the working group to find a solution for which there is a national consensus.

[Hepatitis C, June 1st, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as the leader of the party knows, there is a working group in place which is meeting this very week in Edmonton with representatives of the Hepatitis C Society and others to examine a whole range of options available to better deal with the interests of all those who acquired hepatitis C through the blood system. I think it is best for us to let them get on with their work so we can approach a solution with a national consensus.

[Health, May 28th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we all know people in life who take a little knowledge and then judiciously select some of the facts and combine them in quick statements leaving a misimpression. In fact it is the NDP policy. That is what it is. The leader is making an example for the House of exactly that approach.

The reality and the bottom line is of importance to Canadians. This product has been approved by those responsible in both the United States and Canada. The people who take it can take it with confidence for that reason.

[Health, May 28th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, how can the member continue to leave the impression that these products are unsafe when they have been approved for use in both the United States, which has an exacting standard, and here in Canada which has its own standard?

The product in question has received approval from the authorities who have made the appropriate inquiries, the appropriate inspections, and have come to the conclusion that this product is safe.

For the member to say otherwise day after day in the House is very unfair to those who rely upon this product for health purposes.

[Health, May 28th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this is sheer undiluted nonsense. That man and his colleagues in the Reform Party have opposed the AIDS strategy from the beginning. They pick and choose those to whom they award their political compassion.

They are the embodiment of insincerity. They do not know the first thing about these policy issues and they are prepared to use victims as they do today for their narrow political—