Madam Speaker, I may be new to the House but I thought we would get some answers today. However, he did not once mention why we are here today, which is ice compensation. Therefore, I will take from his response that we were right, that here have been no discussions between the two departments on ice compensation and that nothing will be done for the fishers on the northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I would remind my hon. colleague that it was a Liberal government that started the pilot project prior to the Conservatives forming government. They can pat themselves on the back all they want about extending the five weeks, but the Liberal Party started this pilot project long before they got their hands on it. The only thing the Conservatives have done is driven unemployment up to 10%, which means that everybody in the country can get a piece of the pilot project because they are unemployed.
I will again ask the hon. member a specific question regarding ice compensation. Did the two departments talk? Why did the minister mislead the House by saying “We will be addressing the situation very soon”?