That certainly is a pretty good question and a pretty important issue to the south coast of Newfoundland in particular.
You and I and everybody else know what has happened there, what the people have gone through with the closing of Harbour Breton. With the effect, you can come right down the coast. You have Gaultois, Ramea, Burgeo, the whole works, but just in recent years or months Harbour Breton, Fortune, and Marystown. What has complicated the decision-making on that is the fact that the company, the province, and the union have been involved in a three-way discussion or power play to try to find solutions for the future of that area.
Fishery Products, who held the quotas that you're talking about, closed Harbour Breton. It is now being taken over by Bill Barry with the approval of the community. Fortune is perhaps closed; that is a question that is still up in the air. Marystown was the plant that was supposed to provide a lot of employment, use a lot of that resource, and for whatever reason--certainly for reasons that are to be settled among the three parties--we are not party to that at all. I have stayed away from it up to now simply because negotiations were going ahead between the union and the company in particular, and we can't forget the complication of the Fishery Products International Limited Act, which throws another little complication into the whole mix. You're well aware of that.
There are a couple of chunks of that fish now being talked about. One chunk is to go to Gaultois, an issue you've raised yourself and have been involved in, and I'll talk about some of it going to Harbour Breton. It's something that has been negotiated, with the union being involved. It is not a deliberate interference with negotiations. That's what makes it touchy.
However, you're so right when you say there is still a fair amount of product in the water and there are people looking for work. That is not as clear-cut as it seems, if you're going to keep it in the area, because Harbour Breton is not yet up and running. Fortune is in limbo and Marystown is shut because of a dispute. So there are concerns from the people in the area. They don't want to see the fish going out of that area. They want it to provide work somewhere in the general vicinity, and the situation with the actual plants onshore complicates it.
Is it time to start having a hard look at that? Yes, it is, and I think we're getting to the point where changes are going to have to be made, one way or another. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We have to be reasonable. We have to give people every right to negotiate without pressures or interference. However, there comes a time when the greater good has to be looked at, and if something practical can be done to help a greater number of people, then we have a responsibility there also, and we don't mind fulfilling our role when it comes to being able to do it without, as I say, interference in legal processes.