Mr. Speaker, this year the early spring resulted in a disastrous herring fishery in southeastern New Brunswick. Hundreds of fishers and plant workers are affected. These are the same people who find themselves without income year after year because of the employment insurance cuts.
It is one thing for a herring not to follow the calendar, but it is quite another thing for a minister not to realize that a season can start earlier than usual.
Can the minister explain to us why he did not listen to the fishers, and will he in future allow his department to have a flexible date to allow for an early opening of the spring herring fishery?