Mr. Speaker, it is refreshing to be in this House today and hear the member for Acadie—Bathurst, 1997 version, defending the people in his riding this way. I say the 1997 version of the member for Acadie—Bathurst, because, previous to the 1997 version, we had the father of the employment insurance reform, Doug Young, the man responsible for the economic mess people are living in today.
At the time, however, I was very hopeful. I thought that if the Liberal government had chosen this person from Acadie—Bathurst, which was experiencing much the same problems as we were in Gaspé, and if this person agreed to serve as minister, perhaps he had a few cards up his sleeve. Today, we have understood—he had no trump cards. I think that is what the people of Acadie—Bathurst understood and they did some housecleaning.
To get back to the remarks by my colleague from the NDP, I would like him to tell us about what the situation looks like for all the crab fishers, currently waiting, their vessels docked and their traps all piled up. They are ready to go.
What about the plant workers, whose qualification for employment insurance, when they manage to accumulate 14 weeks—it takes a while to—