Mr. Speaker, that is a very cruel statement.
There are over 40,000 people on the east coast of Canada who have been deprived of a way of life and a way of making a living through no fault of their own. Their families for generations have fished honestly. The fish have disappeared.
It is the responsibility of the Government of Canada, along with others, to give every support and assistance to enable those people to find new hope, to find new choices and to find new careers. We will be basing a program on giving people who have had their way of life and their livelihood disappear a new way of
finding the chance to make a good living for themselves and their families.
The cruel and insensitive remarks by the hon. member are not acceptable because we will be giving, as the hon. member will see next week, a real chance or a real platform for those people to find once again real hope that the country cares about their plight.