Settlement Agreement now posted

The settlement agreement has now been posted here. It is a 91 page PDF file, so it may take some time to download.

Final Agreement

Sorry the Agreement has not yet been posted. I can't post files directly to this Blog, so I have to get it posted on our firm website and link to it. Unfortunately, our firm website is maintained by another company, and I did not get the agreement document to them on time on Friday to get it posted. It should be up today. I'll post an update here with a link as soon as it is up.

Final Agreement Signed

The final settlement agreement has now been signed by the Federal Government. Links to the actual agreement, and some updated Frequently Asked Questions, will be posted later today. The Health Canada press release is here.

Negotiations continuing

Many people have been asking for an update on the compensation announced in July. While I can't yet provide many details, I can say that we have been meeting with federal government representatives almost every week for the past few months, and we have been making significant progress. We believe we are still on track for payments to start in
the first part of 2007.

Agreement close to final

We have met with the Federal Government several times in the last few weeks, and are close to finalizing the agreement. We have been working on the procedures that claimants will be required to follow to apply for compensation, and the way in which we will determine the amounts individual claimants will receive. We expect to be in a position to release the details soon.

Phone Number Correction

The phone number listed in the newsletter for the Alberta lawyers, Kolthammer Batchelor & Laidlaw was wrong. The correct number is (780) 489-5003. A corrected version of the newsletter will be posted shortly.

Newsletter now available

You can find the Settlement Update newsletter here.

Please note that no administrator has yet been appointed for the settlement. Please do not call KPMG or the 86-90 Hepatitis Claims Centre, as they will not be able to answer your questions.

Newsletter

Since I can't post a file directly on this blog, I have to upload the Newsletter file to another site. I'm just waiting for that to be done. As soon as it is up, I'll post a link here.

Questions, Questions

I'm getting a lot of email and phone calls with questions about the settlement. I'm just finalizing a newsletter with a Frequently Asked Questions section that should address many of the questions people have. I'll be sending it out by email to those people I have email addresses for. I'll also post a link to it here.

I hope to have it up later today or tomorrow.

Pictures from the Prime Minister's announcement

Lead Plaintiff Mike McCarthy shakes hands with Health Minister Tony Clement at the announcement of the Pre-86/Post-90 settlement.













Lead plaintiff Mike McCarthy listens to Prime Minister Stephen Harper announce a settlement which will provide almost $1 billion to people infected with hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada before 1986 or after July 1, 1990.

Prime Minister Harper announces compensation

This morning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a settlement for people infected with Hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada before 1986 or after July 1, 1990. The Prime Minister's statement can be found here. Video of the press conference can be found here.

More details to follow.

No announcement today (July 24, 2006)

Despite what several news organizations had earlier reported, there will be no announcement regarding compensation today. However, we do expect an announcement in the near future.

News Reports about Compensation

Over the past few days, there have been several media reports about compensation. Let me try to set the record straight:

1. There has been no official government announcement.

2. The people close to the negotiations are not speaking to the media, so the people who are commenting are doing so based on speculation.

I expect there will be an official announcement soon. Until then, please take anything you hear with a grain of salt. (see the two previous posts about rumours and confidentiality)

Rumours

In the coming days, weeks and months, there are bound to be all kinds of rumours circulating concerning compensation. Links to the official documents will be posted here as they become available. Please check the official documents before assuming that any rumour you hear is true. If you don't understand something, please ask. While we expect that there will be some questions or concerns with respect to some parts of the settlement, we want the discussion to be based on the facts, rather than speculation or wrong information.

So, let's deal with some rumours that have already started to circulate:

1. You have to register for the settlement in the next few days!

Wrong. The settlement has not yet been finalized or announced. There is nothing to register for or sign up for at the moment, and there is certainly no deadline established for registration. When the settlement is finalized and announced, there will be ample notice to people on how they can apply, and when. People will be given plenty of time to apply.

2. The House of Commons breaks for the summer on June 23. If there's no settlement by then, the whole matter will get put off to the fall.

Wrong. The fact that Parliament rises for the summer break on June 23 does not affect our negotiations. There is no deadline to complete negotiations by June 23. Government continues to operate throughout the summer, as do we. Negotiations can continue through the summer, on weekends, whenever. The settlement does not need to be voted on in the House of Commons, so it really does not matter whether Parliament is in session or not. We will continue to negotiate until we reach a fair deal. That being said, we are all trying to get things finalized as soon as possible.

Health Minister testifies regarding Hep C Compensation

On June 6, 2006, Health Minister Tony Clement appeared before the Standing Committee on Health, and was asked questions about compensation for pre-86/post-90 hepatitis C victims. Unfortunately, due to the current state of negotiations, the Minister was not able to give many details. As is typical in most negotiations, the parties have agreed not to release details until the final agreement is reached. It would be unfair to everyone to release details before they are finalized, as things can and do change during the course of negotiations. The whole point of a negotiation is give and take. We need to retain flexibility. If a public announcement were to be made on any particular point, such as how much the total deal was worth, how much the individual compensation amounts were, etc., it would be very difficult to negotiate any change in that position. This could end up hurting the victims, as we could get locked into a position and be unable to negotiate a better agreement.

I can confirm, however, several of the things the Minister did say. In my view, it is accurate to say that the negotiations have advanced more in the last few months than they have in the last several years. Significant progress is being made, and we believe we are very close to an agreement. There are still a few issues which need to be worked out. The federal negotiators and the plaintiffs' negotiating team are working in good faith to get the matter settled as soon as possible.

The plaintiffs' team is working hard to negotiate a good settlement, and so far we are quite pleased with the way things are shaping up. We know that this compensation is very important to thousands of people who need financial assistance to help them deal with the effects of hepatitis C for themselves and their families. We want to ensure that the amounts offered to victims are adequate, and that the process for applying for the settlement is fair and efficient.

We are almost at the finish line. As soon as I can provide more details, I will.

Health Minister to appear at Committee June 6

Further to my last post, the Minister of Health will be appearing before the Health Committee on Tuesday, June 6 at 11 a.m. in Room 237-C in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill. The hearings are usually available live on the internet. Go to http:\\parlvu.parl.gc.ca and check the schedule.

Minister to address Health Committee on Compensation

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health has passed a motion asking the Minister of Health, The Honourable Tony Clement, to appear before the Committee to provide an update on the government's progress towards honouring the Memorandum of Understanding on pre-86/post-90 hepatitis C compensation that was signed last November. The Committee's motion can be found here. I'll post an update when I find out exactly when this will occur.

Hepatitis C raised in the House of Commons

The issue of pre-86/post-90 hepatitis C compensation was raised yesterday in the House of Commons. Here is what was said:

Ms. Penny Priddy (Surrey North, NDP): Mr. Speaker, when the Conservatives were in opposition they promised all victims of the tainted blood tragedy compensation. Pre-1986 and post-1990, thousands were infected with hepatitis C as a result of the failure of the Canadian government and were not compensated by the Liberals.

Does the Minister of Health have a plan to immediately compensate these victims?



Hon. Tony Clement (Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, CPC): Mr. Speaker, as hon. members on both sides of the House know, this issue has been festering for a number of years. We made a campaign pledge and we intend to keep it.



Ms. Penny Priddy (Surrey North, NDP): Mr. Speaker, that is not really good enough. When the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health used to speak about this issue, he would promise compensation immediately after the Conservatives were elected. That was three months ago and there is still no compensation.

Why did the government not move immediately after the election to compensate all hepatitis C victims and right this awful Liberal wrong? What is taking this government so long?



Hon. Tony Clement (Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that this is one of my top priorities. I know there has been a little barracking on both sides of the House, but I can tell the hon. member that this is a priority for this government. We are moving with alacrity. I can tell the hon. member that after 13 years of non-action, we will see action with this Prime Minister's government.

Still here, and working hard

I know it has been a long time since my last post (many of you have pointed this out to me, some gently, some quite angrily). We have continued to negotiate with the federal government, and we are continuing to analyze the data from the survey. Over 3,500 people responded to the survey, from all provinces and territories. We have gained very valuable information from this survey.

We are also in the midst of sending questionnaires to class members' doctors, to gather more information on class members' health status. We need this information to determine how much money is required to provide fair compensation to everyone.

We have been getting good signals from the federal government. We believe that they would like this matter settled as soon as possible, so that compensation can be made available to people quickly.

I cannot at this time give a reliable estimate of how long it will be before compensation is available. All I can say is we are working as hard as we can to try to get it settled soon.

I have read all of the emails and letters people have sent. I've also listened to all of the voicemails people have sent to me. I apologize for not getting back to everyone. I will try to respond to everyone, but my main priority at this time is settling, and I have to balance the time I spend communicating with class members with the time I spend doing the work necessary to get the compensation finalized. I appreciate your patience.

New Federal Cabinet

This morning, a new federal cabinet was sworn in.

Tony Clement was sworn in as Health Minister. Mr. Clement was very supportive of compensation for persons infected with Hepatitis C when he was the Ontario Health Minister.

As you may recall, when in Opposition the Conservatives put forward a motion in the House of Commons calling for compensation for all persons who became infected with Hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada. The Conservative's election platform also contained a committment to providing compensation.

We look forward to working with the new government in finalizing and implementing a fair compensation system.

We're busy analyzing data

We now have about 3,500 surveys returned. We are busy analyzing the data we have received to help us in coming up with the cost and structure of a new compensation proposal. It is our goal to create a fair compensation system that will meet the needs of people infected with Hepatitis C through the blood system in Canada. We want the system to be available well into the future, so that people may access further compensation if the effects of Hepatitis become worse over time. Unfortunately, calculating the cost of such a program is extremely complex. It requires us to determine the current needs of the class, and then make medical projections as to how the disease will likely progress over time, and then make financial projections based on the medical projections.

We have a team of medical and financial experts working with us to assist with these difficult issues.

We have met with the government's lawyers several times, and we believe we are making significant progress. We do understand the urgent need for assistance that many people have. We are committed to working as quickly as possible to finalize the compensation system and get assistance to people at the earliest possible moment.