Mr. Chair, I thank the member for her question. It infuriates me to hear her say that the program announced today can help the people of Huntingdon. I feel helpless. I can only come to the conclusion that the government does not even know what is going on.
The fact is that those plants had no future. The Cleyn and Tinker plant has been sold. Therefore, that is the end. It is official. There is no going back. We are beyond the point of no return. No government grant or anything of that nature could change anything now. The plant will move to the United States.
That is why I find it astounding that the government is not even aware of the situation. I am infuriated because there is no more hope now for the workers in Huntingdon. Their only hope is tied to programs provided after a plant closure. There is talk of POWA, a program abolished by this government in 1995. That is what people are hanging their hopes on.
The people in Huntingdon represent a number of families. We are in fact talking about an entire region, the Haut-Saint-Laurent RCM, with a population of some 22,000 people. I was saying earlier on that 43% of these people do not even have a high school diploma.
Something must therefore be done right now. Furthermore, empty shell projects will not help these people, because this is the end.