Allan Rock

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I reflect cabinet's, the caucus' viewpoint. We are all committed to a national approach in looking after the interests of those people who contracted hepatitis C through the blood system. This is the aim of every member of caucus on this side of the House.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, together we are looking for a way to treat all those who have contracted hepatitis C through the public blood supply system appropriately. This is the objective of all governments. We are trying to come up with a collective approach.

Every year, Quebec and the other provinces receive money for their health care systems from the Government of Canada through transfers. We share this responsibility annually.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it was the Government of Canada that initiated the process to compensate hepatitis C victims 12 months ago.

Quebec declined to take part last July, last fall and in January of this year. We have finally persuaded them to join us. It was the Government of Canada that set this process in motion.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is mistaken. Yesterday, we discussed a co-ordinated approach by all governments with all ministers, including the minister from Quebec. We agreed to have a task force and to look at all our options together.

We feel that a co-ordinated Canada-wide approach is in the best interest of hepatitis C victims. That is this government's objective.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as a result of this government's leadership there are 22,000 victims of hepatitis C who received an offer of compensation from all governments. Where was the Reform Party last year? Where was the Reform Party last winter when that work was going on? It is this government which led that effort.

Yesterday this government led the effort to pursue a national approach to this issue and we will work with governments, as we have in the past, until a solution is found.

I can tell the hon. member that all governments are committed to an approach that is in the interest of all those who suffer from hepatitis C as a result of the blood system.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member has no idea what went on inside the meeting yesterday, so I will tell him. Ministers sat around the table and examined the options available to governments to help those who contracted hepatitis C through the blood system.

We agreed that a national approach with all governments working together is the best approach. The governments ought not to act unilaterally. Then we agreed over the short term to ask a working group to examine the options available to us so we can select the best one.

That is the responsible way to proceed in these circumstances.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, if it was not evident before now what this man is, we all see it for ourselves today. He is the ambulance chaser of Canadian politics.

It was pathetic. While ministers yesterday were upstairs working toward a solution, this man was in the lobby straining to get into the camera shot with the victims. He is a disgrace. He lowers the level of debate.

Those of us who are committed to a real solution will continue to work toward it.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, as the House knows there was a consensus among all governments in late March. Two governments rejected that consensus and went off in a different direction. At yesterday's meeting that sort of unilateralism was deplored by the vast majority of Canadian governments. Instead we renewed our commitment to finding a national approach to this issue. A working group has been put in place over the short term to look at the options for a national approach. That is the way governments can act most effectively in the interest of all those infected with hepatitis C through the blood system.

[Hepatitis C, May 15th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the meeting yesterday produced progress. The member should know that although no final conclusion was reached, the ministers agreed that a working group would examine options which will enable us to do something meaningful for all those who suffer from hepatitis C as a result of the blood system. That working group will get under way immediately. It will work over the short term to present fully researched options to all ministers.

We continue to prefer a national approach to this issue. That was the view of those around the table yesterday. Unilateral action is not the answer. We will continue to work in the public interest.

[Canada Labour Code, May 15th, 1998]

moved that Bill C-19, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code (Part I) and the Corporations and Labour Unions Returns Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts, be read the third time and passed.