Mr. Chair, the minister outlined the $50 million fund that she announced in either Esquiminac or Neguac in my province of New Brunswick. There is a problem with that fund. At the time, I thought that if the government was allocating money for sustainability in the lobster fishery, on the face of it, that made sense. We had asked the government for a program like that. Groups like the Maritime Fishermen's Union, which represents the inshore fishermen in my area, had been calling on the government to do that.
I have spoken to a number of fishermen in my constituency, fishermen the minister probably knows, from Murray Corner and Cape Tormentine. They are people like Gary O'Hanley and Bernie Briggs, president of the Botsford Professional Fishermen's Association, who the minister will probably know from her time in the provincial Government of Prince Edward Island. They are people like Steward Murray, who sadly passed away this year. These fishermen had recognized the need for a rationalization program, as the minister noted.
The problem was the program was designed so nobody could qualify. The $50 million announcement on a wharf in the constituency of Miramichi on a summer afternoon was a great announcement. Unfortunately the fishermen who had applied under this program came to see me this winter and spring. They had these nice letters explaining why they did not qualify. They did not have a certain percentage of their income that was dependent on lobster, or they were 3% less than the cutoff or their landings had not gone down by the requisite percentage.
At the end of the day, these fishermen are in very difficult economic circumstances. The government designed a program that was no doubt well intentioned, but unfortunately missed the target. It announced a $50 million fund. Out of a total of $50 million, $15 million is allocated and only $8.5 million gets out the door. It is all taxable money. The government recuperates a considerable amount of that money.
At the end of the day, though it may have had all the best intentions in the world, the government, with respect, missed the target. The fishermen who I represent were very frustrated by their inability to access that fund. I wish there will be more flexibility and more money to actually achieve the objective next year.