Ottawa under pressure to change criteria for Agent Orange compensation

Andy Scott, the Liberal MP for Fredericton, says it's unfair that so many people have been eliminated from compensation due to the government's decision to limit payments to people still living on Feb. 6, 2006 - the date the Conservatives came to office.

Scott says that due to the time limitation, less than half of the $95 million compensation package has been claimed.

A group called Widows on the Warpath also is pressuring the Conservative government to change the arbitrary date.

The group says as many as 20,000 widows would be eligible for the one-time $20,000 compensation payment if the time limitation was removed.

Ottawa announced the compensation program last year to help people whose health was damaged by the testing of Agent Orange and other defoliants at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in the 1960s.