The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - June 14, 2017


Gord Brown advocates for Thalidomide victims

Topics
thalidomide victims thalidomide victims compensation thalidomide victims
Hosted by
Jamie Schmal
Mentioned
Gordon Brown Tony Clement Leeds Grenville Brian Mulroney Ronna Ambrose Colin Carey Len Weber Speaker
Conservatives united： Andrew Scheer’s victory speech in Toronto Justin Trudeau’s payout to a terrorist

Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

168.02

Word count

1,761

Sentence count

144


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Gord Brown, Conservative whip in the House of Commons, talks about the issue of thalidomide victims and how they have not received compensation from the government of Canada for their loss of a baby born with no arms or legs.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.480 You're listening to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:08.200 Well, they thought they were going to have an easy day over there today, but not so fast, Mr. Speaker.
00:00:15.600 What is it going to take for the Prime Minister to have any respect for any laws in this country that may curb his out-of-control behavior?
00:00:27.100 And now, here's your host, Tony Clement.
00:00:30.000 And welcome back to The Blueprint, Canada's Conservative official podcast.
00:00:35.260 I'm your host, Tony Clement, here, and we have another segment for you.
00:00:40.520 A great guest to have on our show, Gord Brown, the Conservative Party's whip, the MP for Leeds at Grenville.
00:00:47.560 Gord, welcome to the program.
00:00:48.800 Glad to be with you.
00:00:49.860 It's glad to have you on because we're going to talk a little bit about thalidomide victims.
00:00:53.700 It's incredible that this issue is still rolling around out there after decades and decades.
00:00:59.340 But maybe give the audience a little bit of a background on thalidomide, what occurred many years ago, and why this issue is still an issue.
00:01:08.040 This was a drug that was given to women for morning sickness sometime in the period between 1959-1961.
00:01:17.440 So there were about 10,000 children born worldwide at the time who were born with deformities.
00:01:26.200 Many of these children did not survive childbirth.
00:01:29.440 Some of them were born with no legs, no arms, and other important organs.
00:01:34.540 Today, there are a number of them that are still survivors.
00:01:38.380 And over the years, there's been a number of compensation packages in Canada.
00:01:42.780 First of all, with the Brian Mulroney government in 1991, and again with the Stephen Harper Conservative government in 2015.
00:01:53.720 And there was a number of people who were not able to meet the criteria.
00:01:58.300 The criteria included providing a prescription that the doctor would have prescribed this drug to the mother.
00:02:05.940 But in addition to that, there was sample drugs given out by doctors.
00:02:10.280 So there's no record of those.
00:02:12.200 Many of these doctors now, 55 years later, have passed away.
00:02:18.580 Those records have not been maintained.
00:02:22.540 So the ability for those victims today to actually access those records is just not possible.
00:02:28.340 So there was an evidentiary threshold to get some of the compensation money from the government of Canada.
00:02:35.740 But it was very difficult to meet that test for some of the victims who genuinely were victims in this case.
00:02:42.600 Well, it's clear.
00:02:43.300 And one of my constituents came forward with this to me a year ago or so.
00:02:48.880 And he had been denied.
00:02:50.540 The company that the government, the program that then Health Minister Rana Ambrose brought forward,
00:02:57.520 a company called Crawford Victim Services, was to carry out the dispensation of this support for these victims.
00:03:07.160 But because some of them were unable to provide that documentation, they were excluded.
00:03:11.680 So we estimate that there's about 25 to 30 or so of these still forgotten survivors of thalidomide.
00:03:20.120 So I've been fighting for these people for about a year now.
00:03:23.440 And I've met regularly with them.
00:03:25.720 I've asked multiple questions in the House of the Minister.
00:03:30.580 And back in the fall, we took over the meeting when the Minister was there on another topic,
00:03:35.900 brought forward a motion,
00:03:36.900 and basically shamed the Liberal-dominated Health Committee into doing a study.
00:03:42.240 So about a month ago, they did the study.
00:03:45.080 They sought witnesses from the UK, witnesses who were victims.
00:03:49.380 Because this was a worldwide phenomenon.
00:03:50.860 The UK had a number of thalidomide victims as well.
00:03:53.320 Throughout the Western world.
00:03:54.560 There was about 10,000 babies born deformed in that period of time in the early 60s.
00:03:59.900 So there's still many of these victims still worldwide.
00:04:06.060 But in Canada, most of them have been compensated except for this small group.
00:04:10.380 There's been a number of programs.
00:04:11.840 W5 has done a program.
00:04:13.440 I've asked multiple questions in the House.
00:04:14.960 And then we got to the committee.
00:04:16.480 And the all-party health committee has written a letter to the Minister of Health,
00:04:21.820 encouraging her to loosen up the restrictions and allow these people to at least have an in-person interview.
00:04:28.460 They were not given the opportunity to have that.
00:04:30.960 And as well, there's now genetic testing.
00:04:33.140 In the UK, they've used this.
00:04:34.760 The UK model allowed for an in-person interview
00:04:37.520 and to ensure that the people who otherwise would not get compensated get the compensation that they deserve.
00:04:42.920 So this is kind of like you're just saying,
00:04:44.560 let's use the best practices around the world in this particular case.
00:04:47.700 The UK had an interview.
00:04:48.960 The UK had some genetic testing that was helpful in this regard.
00:04:52.900 And we should just sort of modernize that so that we're not missing anyone.
00:04:56.340 That's right.
00:04:56.920 Because we're trying to, the compensation is there for everyone who was affected by this.
00:05:01.900 There's still money in the fund.
00:05:03.200 Yeah.
00:05:03.480 There's people who have lived a complete life of pain, suffering, and discrimination.
00:05:09.000 They've not been able to, in many cases, been able to work or do sports or in terms of employment.
00:05:15.420 They can't carry out a lot of tasks.
00:05:16.780 So they were excluded from a lot of opportunities.
00:05:18.960 Right.
00:05:19.160 These people have paid a big price.
00:05:21.760 And they're all getting older.
00:05:23.020 And many of them who are still with us today are suffering from serious health complications,
00:05:28.360 internal organs, as well as the visible physical deformities that they have today.
00:05:33.700 So we're asking the government to do the right thing.
00:05:35.900 Even the Liberal members of the committee supported the letter that went to the minister asking for her to go back,
00:05:42.100 let these victims actually have the in-person interview, and do the right thing for these people.
00:05:47.480 I've been fighting for them.
00:05:48.640 And I'm really hoping that the government will do the right thing.
00:05:51.380 But they sure are in nowhere to do it.
00:05:52.840 I'm speaking with Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds Grenville,
00:05:57.120 who's been leading the fight on proper compensation for the forgotten victims of thalidomide.
00:06:03.780 Thanks, Gord, for being on the show.
00:06:05.240 So the committee's done its report.
00:06:07.140 The report has been filed with the government.
00:06:09.500 What's the status of things?
00:06:10.360 Well, the letter was just sent to the minister in the last week or so.
00:06:16.220 And so the minister now, at question period, has indicated that she will go back and look at that.
00:06:21.960 But it's time for the government to do the right thing.
00:06:24.380 And if it had not been for some of my colleagues in the Conservative Party bringing this forward,
00:06:32.440 as well as myself and working closely with our vice chair and critic of the health committee,
00:06:38.760 both Colin Carey and Len Weber, we would not be where we are today.
00:06:43.980 So we've come a long way.
00:06:45.160 The government should do the right thing.
00:06:47.960 And it's an opportunity for them to show the compassion that they say that they have for people who are in need in this country.
00:06:54.680 Well, this is the thing.
00:06:55.620 The money's there.
00:06:57.700 The program is there.
00:07:00.480 The need is there to be filled here, these forgotten victims.
00:07:05.600 And we're asking for a process by which, in a compassionate way, we can finally end this sad chapter.
00:07:14.400 I believe that these people are truly victims of thalidomide.
00:07:18.900 And the thing about thalidomide was it improved drug testing.
00:07:23.420 There are many people today who haven't dealt with the impact of bad testing of drugs because of this.
00:07:31.100 So the industry had to learn from this.
00:07:33.140 The whole drug testing regime worldwide changed after thalidomide.
00:07:38.820 So these are the people that have paid the price.
00:07:41.620 Governments around the world have been compensating them.
00:07:43.900 It's time for the Canadian government to do the right thing.
00:07:46.620 And at a minimum, give these people the in-person interview to show that they are, in fact, victims.
00:07:54.500 They were excluded without even an interview.
00:07:57.120 And the government, at a minimum, owes them that.
00:07:59.640 And you've been dealing with a particular constituent in your writing, but there are others that you know of or you've heard of, I'm sure.
00:08:07.900 There's about 25 to 30 people who were actually given denial letters from Crawford.
00:08:15.160 Right.
00:08:15.500 And presumably this is across the country.
00:08:17.840 Yes, from one end of the country to the other.
00:08:19.860 Well, and is there anything that the public can do, Gord, in this case?
00:08:23.500 I would encourage them to get a hold of the Liberal MPs and tell them they want their health minister to do the right thing.
00:08:33.640 There are a number of Liberal MPs who have become advocates.
00:08:37.760 This is not, in my view, a partisan issue.
00:08:40.100 This is just the right thing to do.
00:08:42.020 They don't seem to want to do the right thing.
00:08:43.840 Let's hope they change their mind.
00:08:44.960 Well, I think it's really important because this is a case where I think MPs can have an impact.
00:08:50.880 And you have been leading the charge on this, and thank you for that.
00:08:54.900 But you have been able to find allies within the Liberal government and elsewhere, NDP, who also feel very strongly about this.
00:09:02.180 Yes, and I don't think the minister is too enthused when I get up to ask a question because she often knows it's coming her way.
00:09:09.620 But I think that it is important to show that we're not trying to make a partisan issue out of this.
00:09:14.280 This is something that we're doing for the victims because we have compassion for the victims.
00:09:18.620 That's right.
00:09:19.120 And there are a number of Conservative members who are standing up for their constituents who are victims as well.
00:09:25.320 Well, I think that's very important.
00:09:26.880 And when do you hope to have a response?
00:09:30.280 This has been dragging on now for well over a year.
00:09:33.360 We've been at the committee.
00:09:34.640 We've asked multiple questions in the House.
00:09:36.440 There's been programs on television such as W5 with Kevin Newman who have done programs on this.
00:09:44.240 The minister has promised to get a response to the committee.
00:09:48.000 Let's hope it's a positive one.
00:09:49.520 Well, I think we can all hope for that.
00:09:51.580 And, Gord, thank you for your leadership on this file.
00:09:54.600 I'm sure the victims of thalidomide really appreciate the extra time and effort you've put into this.
00:10:00.340 And I know it's going to make a difference.
00:10:02.820 Thank you.
00:10:03.440 Thank you.
00:10:03.940 Thank you for being on the Blueprint.
00:10:05.600 Delighted.
00:10:06.440 Thank you for listening to the Blueprint, Canada's Conservative podcast.
00:10:19.960 To find more episodes, interviews, and in-depth discussions of politics in Canada,
00:10:24.220 search for the Blueprint on iTunes or visit podcast.conservative.ca.
00:10:28.560 Thank you for listening to the Blueprint.