Tuesd_ay, April 25, 1967

again decided that they must force Mr. Moe out, regardless of the cost, and Mr. Speaker, the cost of removing Mr. Moe is going to be much too high. Much higher than if a businesslike attitude had been adopted at the beginning.

On December 2, 1966, Gulf Garden Foods was forced to close down. Mr. Camp- bell said at the time and I quote, “This will involve a premature closure of the plant some two or three weeks before the fishing season ends.” Now he must have known at that time that the fishing season does not end in Kings County in the middle of Dec- ember, the fishing season actually ended sixteen weeks later in the middle of February, and that part of the season is the best part of the fishing season. The closure resulted in a loss of $200,000 in wages for the workers of Gulf Garden Foods, and, in loss of fish catch, to Gulf Garden Foods of over a million dollars. Now all of this money was lost, but more expenses were also involved. It then cost the Government of Prince Ed- ward Island about $100,000 to get the ships underway again in January 1967, so that they could go to Nova Scotia and fish for the fishing plants there. And since then it has cost the Government of Prince Edward Island another $100,000 in expenses for the privilege of having our ships fish for Nova Scotia. We are now, and have been for four months, in the rediculous position of subsidizing the fishing industry of Nova Scotia.

Now, Mr. Speaker, they have a sensibleegovernment in Nova Scotia and I am sure that Mr. Stanfield would not have reques such a subsidy from the province of Prince Edward Island. He is quite capable of looking after industrial development him- self, as he has so amply demonstrated in the past few years. The Prince Edward Island government would do well to study his methods. But emulation of them would be im- possible because you could not use patronage and gain possible political advantage.

In his announcement of December 2nd., the Premier shed some more crocidile tears. He said, “It is difficult at this point to forecast the immediate future of the company. It would be now premature to speculate publicly on what the company or Government would do in the light of these circumstances. Several alternatives, note the word, “remain available to insure the continued operation of the plant next

spring."

Well, Mr. Speaker, the plant is still closed and my information is that it is not likely to open in the near future. The fact of the matter is that there were no alterna- tives. Like the Premier’s statements this one also was not true; it was not premature to speculate as to what the Government would do for it had already been decided that Mr. Moe would be forced out by bankruptcy proceedings, if necessary, and there were no other alternatives to opening the plant. The Premier was also incorrect when he said that several alternatives were available to insure the continued operation in the spring. What alternatives have the people of the Island heard of? There haven’t been any; I haven’t heard of any, there were not any, there never were any alternatives. After I had criticised his irresponsible action in forcing the closing of Gulf Garden Foods the Premier became annoyed and said in part, his attitude referring to my atti- tude, “His attitude constitutes litical nonsense bordering on the insane, and invites at the appropriate time a full isclosure by the government of his absurd position.” I have been asking the Premier for the past six weeks, and indeed for the set four months to ex se the position. First he refused to answer the question in t e Legis- lature; then t e Government caved in and agreed to table certain documents which we requested. Then the Premier had some second thoughts and is now going to table those which he wants us to see. But his statement went further and I quote again. He said: “We want the people to have all the knowledge of it they can get.” What infor- mation has he given the people of Prince Edward Island on the Georgetown affair? There has been none as far as I know, and whenever I, or the Leader of the lExposition, ask for it, the Premier hedges, doesn’t know, or refuses it. Early in Dece r there was a demand by the public for disclosure of his information. The Joumal-Pioneer had this to say and I quote. “The closure of Gulf Garden Foods processing plant in George- town is an economic disaster for the people of that area to lose 250 jobs,” and so on, “it is roughly e uivalent to the effect on Summerside if all the civilian jobs at the air- port were wi out. Fortunately the Premier is on record as stating that the shut- downs will only be tem orary.” Note the word, “temporary”. “One cant help but have the feeling that there s ould be a full disclosure of all the facts so that the people of the Province, who have been contributing to the cost of the two plants in operation, can know how their mone has been spent. There have been so many rumours and so much controversy about t ese two industries almost since they were first announced that most people have developed the feeling that there must be something seriously

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