Mr. Chair, before I answer the question, as the minister from Nova Scotia, I would just like to say thank you to Canadians from coast to coast to coast for their heartfelt condolences and good wishes to us here in the province.
I want to thank my colleague for the question, as well as for his continually reaching out to my office to bring forward the concerns he hears from constituents in his riding with regard to our fish and seafood sector.
We recognize how important that sector is to our rural coastal communities, and we're doing everything we can to support it. Right now we know that they are extremely challenged because of the loss of export markets. We're looking at a number of different measures we can put in place to help harvesters, as well as processors. This past weekend, we announced a $62.5-million package for processors to allow them to diversify their products, to do value-added, as well as to increase their freezer capacity. This, in turn, will help harvesters by making sure they have somewhere to sell.
We also recognized the challenges some of them were facing with regard to accessing the CERB. We've made it available to seasonal workers, which was extremely important to the sector. We've also made sure that people who are on fishers' EI and have now run out are also going to be able to access the CERB.
These are all measures we're taking into account, but we're not finished. We know there is still a lot more that needs to be done. We know that some harvesters are not able to access some of the programs that we've put forward. We're making sure that we have those available to them, and we will continue to work with them.
I want to thank the member for his input into these programs. It's been extremely beneficial.