Mr. Speaker, according to National Sea Products, 25 of its fish processing workers have left full time jobs for assistance under the Atlantic groundfish strategy. That is TAGS, the government's $1.9 billion temporary aid package for unemployed fishermen and unemployed plant workers. National Sea alerted the human resources development department of this development on February 16 but has yet to receive a response from the federal government.
My question for the minister is: How many of the 25 National Sea Products employees in Lunenburg were accepted into TAGS and what is the minister's response to this unsettling development?