A pair of politicians -- one provincial and the other federal -- have joined forces to demand an overhaul of Ottawa's approach to investigating Agent Orange in New Brunswick.

According to New Brunswick Conservative MP Greg Thompson and Conservative MLA Jody Carr, the federal government's current approach to the issue of chemical herbicide sprayed at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown lacks transparency and accountability.

"The changes we are recommending would provide confidence to Canadians that this is on the up and up,'' Carr told reporters Thursday.

In the wake of the recent resignation of the inquiry chief, on account of health problems, Carr and Thompson said there is now a valuable opportunity to revamp the process.

Among their nine recommendations is a call for the creation of an arm's length technical review committee.

"Presently in Ottawa, that technical committee is a committee of cabinet ministers which means, obviously, operating without any public scrutiny," Thompson explained.

Thompson said those whose health may have been affected by exposure to the chemical spray also deserve quick access to some form of compensation.

"When lives are destroyed and families and lives shortened by exposure to a contaminant, I think the Government of Canada has an obligation to consider compensation for those victims,'' Thompson said, criticizing the existing scheme as "convoluted" and "unfair".

Retired soldier John Chisholm -- who believes his health has suffered as a result of the spraying that was common on the southern New Brunswick base from the 1960s through the 1980s -- welcomes the Tory action plan.

"The recommendations seemed quite reasonable if we can only get government to act on them," Chisholm told CTV News. "The sooner, the better."

Another retired soldier, Earl Graves, agrees that compensation is overdue.

"Let's get some compensation out there for people that's sick -- Get this over and done with, start making decisions," Graves implored.

The senior New Brunswick MP in Prime Minister Paul Martin's cabinet says he can't comment on the action plan because he hasn't seen it. But Andy Scott says he welcomes all suggestions and plans to take the recommendations back to the capital.

Prepared with files from CTV reporter Tracy Prysiazniuk in Fredericton