Mr. Speaker, clearly, the Minister of Human Resources Development has lost control of the Atlantic Groundfish Strategy. Not only is this strategy not creating jobs, but it is encouraging workers to quit their jobs to take advantage of the benefits of the program.
Processing plants are complaining about the departure of a number of their employees and of the costs this entails. The minister prefers to stick his head in the sand and continue extolling the virtues of his program. The representatives of the fishermen even came to Ottawa last week to complain about the program's ineffectiveness.
The minister must recognize that his program is not working, that he is gobbling up billions and that the federal government on its own is incapable of resolving the Atlantic fishing crisis.