Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to come back to a question I asked on May 29. My question dealt with the fact that this year the fishing industry in the Acadian Peninsula is what can be called, I guess, a total disaster.
For instance, in the Caraquet area, lobstermen have caught only 6,000 pounds of lobster. On some days, lobstermen in the Petit-Shippagan area have come back home with only 15 and 38 pounds of lobster. That is unheard of.
Also, crab quotas have been cut, which means that less fish or crab have been caught. Fish plants have closed down after only three weeks for lack of fish.
I asked in the House of Commons what the government would do to provide relief to these plant workers?
With all due respect, let me remind the House of what the parliamentary secretary told me at the time “When the licences of an enterprise are sold, it is the responsibility of the enterprise owner to deal with the crew members”.
But I was not talking about crew members; I was talking about plant workers. I am anxious to hear what his answer will be this evening. I hope he will not mention crew members again.
Let us be clear that the fish plants closed after three weeks. Workers in these plants will have trouble making their 420 hours. They will be obliged to take part in projects, and this will be divided by the wonderful 14 week formula. And the gap about which I have spoken so often in the House of Commons will begin in December.
The question I asked on May 29 had to do with what the federal government would do to help New Brunswick cope with this disaster, this crisis in the fishery, which will affect thousands of people.
That was my question. I think that there was some confusion that day. I hope that, now that the question is clearer this evening, the parliamentary secretary who will shortly be replying will be able to answer it.
Second, the federal government bought crab fishers' boats in order to give them to the aboriginals on the Burnt Church reserve. But the aboriginals do not want them. There is no agreement in this regard. It is not good enough that quotas are lower. No one is fishing these quotas. These are resources that are therefore not reaching the fish plants.
What will the government do so that these quotas can be distributed to someone else, to other fishers, so that the fish and seafood quotas are used and people can go to work?
It makes no sense that the government spent over $10 million to close the fishery. There is nothing to show for it. People have no work.
I know that I am getting to the end of my four minutes, so I am going to ask a clear question of the government.
What is the federal government going to do to help the fish plant workers in the Acadian peninsula, who have had only three weeks work? These people could not get work this year because of the crisis we are still having with the crab fishery. What will the federal government do to help the province of New Brunswick set up a partnership in order to help these workers?
I believe my question is clear. This is what I would like to have an answer from the parliamentary secretary on. In other words, I would like to have a reply to the question I asked him on May 29.