Preston Manning

[Hepatitis C, May 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this minister is running out of excuses.

First he said that every province agreed with him. Now that excuse is gone. Then he said there was no more money available. But then the premiers found a couple hundred million more dollars to put on the table. One by one the minister's excuses for inaction and not having a position are gone.

Is it not true that the only obstacle that is now standing between these victims and a just settlement is an obstinate Minister of Health who is unable to admit that he was wrong?

[Hepatitis C, May 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the minister went all around the bush but he did not answer the obvious question in the minds of the victims and in the minds of the provinces.

He talked about possible positions on the part of the provinces, but what is the position of the Government of Canada? What positive position on compensating all hepatitis C victims is this minister taking to this conference in two days?

[Hepatitis C, May 12th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the country's health ministers are meeting in two days to negotiate a solution to help all the hepatitis C victims. Yet this government has still not stated its position.

Canadians know what the government is against. They know that it tried to stonewall Krever. They know that it attacked the premiers. It has even tried to divide and conquer the hepatitis C victims themselves.

What is the government for? What positive position is it taking into these negotiations in two days?

[Hepatitis C, May 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I think it is very important that we be clear on the government's position, that the government be clear for the sake of the House, that it be clear for the sake of the premiers but, more important, that it be clear for the sake of the victims.

Is the minister denying that an offer was made over the weekend to the victims of hepatitis C for compensation prior to 1986?

[Hepatitis C, May 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we have been told by the Hepatitis C Society of Canada that this offer was made using the member for St. Paul's as a go-between, but the offer had strings attached. The victims were told that the Prime Minister will not compensate them unless they promise not to hold him responsible.

Why is the government still attaching strings to its offers of compensation?

[Hepatitis C, May 11th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question for the government.

Can the government confirm that over the weekend it made an offer to compensate the pre-1986 victims of hepatitis C?

[Hepatitis C, May 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is suffering from the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome. One day he dangles out hope for the victims; the next day he says that maybe he will not compensate them. This is cruel treatment of the victims. If he is going to compensate these victims, why does he not say so? If he is not going to compensate them, why does he not come out and say so?

Is the Prime Minister going to compensate these victims or not?

[Hepatitis C, May 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister's spin doctors sent him to a charity function at McDonald's to try to paint him as more compassionate. At McDonald's the Prime Minister flip-flopped. The Prime Minister said that he might give compensation to some of the victims and then again he might not.

How can the Prime Minister go into a serious negotiation on this issue without having a firm position in advance?

[Hepatitis C, May 7th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, why is it that whenever the Prime Minister is asked to work with the provinces, particularly on social issues, he turns it into a meanspirited squabble?

The Prime Minister tried to bully British Columbia on welfare reform; he attacked Alberta on health care reform; and now he is directing insults to the premiers who want to compensate victims of hepatitis C. He treats the premiers more shabbily than he treats his own backbenchers.

How is this proposed hepatitis C conference to succeed if this is the Prime Minister's approach?

[Hepatitis C, May 6th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, did the Prime Minister even read Premier Harris' letter? Harris did not break the deal. He confirmed his commitment to compensation to victims between 1986 and 1990. Then he expanded that compensation to victims before 1986, and what kind of response does he get from the government? Insults.

Are the government's attacks on Premier Harris not really designed to scuttle these negotiations rather than to help the victims of hepatitis C?