Mr. Speaker, because of the federal government's disastrous management of the fisheries, thousands of plant workers in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, whose employment insurance benefits ran out over a month ago, are left with nothing, there being no cod or crab to process.
Since the government is responsible for the collapse of the fisheries, and since the employment insurance fund surplus stands at $45 billion, will it use these funds from contributors to improve the program and assist the plant workers of the North Shore, the Gaspé Peninsula, the Magdalen Islands and the Atlantic region?