Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take part in tonight's adjournment proceedings. A few weeks ago, I asked the Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) a question, but it was the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food who answered. I hope the minister responsible for the ACOA will answer my questions tonight.
The question I asked was relatively simple and clear. I asked why the ACOA had not yet paid the $6 million it announced in December 2007 to assist Atlantic Beef Products of Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island. The federal government announced this $6 million in funding with great pomp and fanfare in December 2007. One might wonder if it was not just before an election campaign, but that was the announcement, in any case. Officials from three Maritime provinces, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, were also there.
Under the terms of the agreement, each of these provinces was to contribute $2 million. The federal government was to invest $6 million in order to save jobs. I should explain that this slaughterhouse is the only one in the Maritimes, and it is important to all the beef producers in these three provinces. The provinces contributed their $2 million shares, to be paid into a trust fund to be managed. The federal government was supposed to do the same thing.
However, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food answered:
Mr. Speaker, there is absolutely no delay. There was a process put in place. ACOA is forwarding the money to the provinces as they require it. I am not sure what the member opposite is talking about.
The question was simple, so the response should have been as well. The provinces made their contribution, so why has the federal government not yet paid its share? That was in 2007, and it is now 2009. What the federal government is doing is unacceptable.
Even worse, two of these three maritime provinces had to provide an extra $140,000 each in temporary financing to make up for the money that the federal government and ACOA had not yet paid to the firm that was managing the money. We need to create jobs, especially during an economic crisis when we cannot afford to lose even one more job. More than 70 people work full-time for this company, but this beef slaughterhouse creates nearly 400 jobs in all. That means that 400 jobs could be lost in Prince Edward Island, which manages the only slaughterhouse in the Maritimes.
This is more irresponsibility on the part of the federal government. It says it wants to help people work. If it wants to help people work, then why has it not deposited the $6 million in the trust account where the maritime provinces have put their money in order to secure the future of this slaughterhouse, which is so important to beef producers?
I hope the Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency will answer me this evening.