Mr. Speaker, the government must have known about the severe ice conditions off Labrador and northeastern Newfoundland. All of Canada has seen the TV images of sealing and fishing vessels trapped in the thickest ice in decades. The opening of crab and other fisheries is delayed. Fishers and plant workers have been without income for weeks and the start of the season is nowhere in sight.
The fisheries minister is monitoring the situation. The human resources minister has been sitting on it, the file I mean, for almost a month.
My question for whoever is in charge is, when will the government stop monitoring and start acting? Where is the assistance that fishers and plant workers need now?