Email fixed!

The email address listed in the survey for Roy Elliott Kim O'Connor LLP, hepc@reko.ca, was not set up properly, so some of you may have had email messages bounce back. That's been fixed.

Surveys coming in quickly

We are receiving hundreds of surveys every day. Thank you to all those who have returned them so promptly. The surveys are providing us with valuable information to use in our ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government. These surveys, along with information and advice from doctors and financial experts, will allow us to determine how much money is needed to provide compensation. We want to be sure that there is enough money to provide fair compensation to everyone who became infected with Hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada before 1986 or after 1990.

We'll be meeting with the government negotiators again next week. Please be assured that there is a team of people working on this everyday, and that we all want to complete the negotiations as soon as possible.

Election Called - Now what?

A lot of people have been asking what will happen to the pre-86/post-90 compensation now that an election has been called. The short answer is it should not have any significant effect. The Liberal Government signed a memorandum of understanding prior to the election which committed them to providing compensation. The Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois have all supported compensation in the past, and voted in favour of compensation several times, including April 2005.

We are continuing to negotiate with the Department of Justice, and are continuing to gather the information we need to conclude those negotiations. Our work will continue throughout the election campaign, as we are dealing with government lawyers, not politicians.

The only effect the election will likely have is that we will not be able to get any final agreement signed until after the election when a new cabinet is sworn in. However, given the amount of work left to do in the negotiations, it is not likely that an agreement could be reached before a new cabinet is in place anyway.

So, don't worry. We are confident that compensation will be provided regardless of what happens in the election.