I'm glad you brought that up. One of the things we found ourselves dealing with a few years back, when we were getting $5.25 and $6.25 for lobsters.... We were still having problems, and one of the things we did as an association—the PEIFA was adamant in going after this, and it took a lot of hard work from a lot of individuals—was go after that 4% loan from the province for our fishers who were in trouble in areas 25 and 26A. We finally got that. It has helped a lot. I've had a lot of fishermen tell me the only thing that saved them was that 4%--consolidating their debt and getting it under a 4% loan.
Various people who work at banks and credit unions told some of the fishers to go to the P.E.I. lending authority and to try to get in there, because that was a better place for them than the banks or the credit unions. That's what a lot of them ended up doing.
That being said, that program is over now. Something from the federal government along those lines would work. The criteria don't have to be the same; they could be different. The plan could cover the whole island; it could cover the whole Atlantic coast, for that matter. Every time we pick up the newspaper or turn on the TV, we see a stimulus package for this outfit or that outfit or something else. The fishery is the same: it's a business, and there are people suffering in that business. They need it.
So I'm really glad you brought this up, Mr. Allen.