Legislative ”Assembly

discourage any ordinary creditor from attacking the dubious withholding of the down payment on the trawlers from the assets of Gulf Garden Foods. But that is not the way the Premier presented it a year ago. As I recall his remarks in this Assembly he said that this advance of $274,000 was made in order that the creditors might get something but he carefully avoided reminding them that they might have obtained the down payment of $360,000 as well which was an asset of Gulf Garden Foods. As soon as all these legal affairs had been completed the foreigners left with their $400,000 and as a bonus for a job well done the Government paid their legal fees, an amount in excess of 886.000. (Applause) The Premier is not the only one who should bear some guilt in this regard. The Minister of Industries and Fisheries was informed by his legal counsel well before this had begun that he thought that this might be the proper thing to do but that they should not put the Government in the position of having to defend the legality of returning this down payment. The Minis- ter disregarded the assurances, the advice, and the result was that the creditors got twenty cents on the dollar, the Norwegians got their $400,000 plus their legal fees and they left with the money in their pockets. This figure, which I have men- tioned, of course, does not include the fees of Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Sigsworth which, I am sure. must exceed $25,000 at the very least. Simple arithmetic will show you that the opening moves of the Liberal campaign in the Georgetown affair cost the people of this Province $400,000 or more, plus $274,000, plus $86,000, plus more. an amount in excess of three-quarters of a million dollars and the campaign had only begun. I think you will agree that that is a large amount of money for our tax payers to contribute to a Liberal political campaign of assassination and hopeful political gain.

Hon. Robert Campbell: Is that what you said when you just got one vote? J. Cyril Sinnott: No. J. David Stewart: Would somebody put the top back on the barrel. (Laughter)

J. Cyril Sinnott: This figure of three quarters of a million dollars sounds large but that’s only a fraction of their costs to date. The Government was now saddled with two industries which had no future. Since then the Government has squandered a lot more money on Georgetown, nearly all of which is a complete loss because Gulf Garden Foods is closed and the people in the area are unemployed except for a few who are working in Bathurst Marine. Some time ago I had estimated the losses to be over three million dollars in the past year and a half and I had thought that these losses included the following when I made the statement on television in Dec., 1967. I considered the interest and insurance loss to be about $600,000, depreciation losses to be about $300,000, loss in the operation of trawlers about $300,000, loss cost of repairs to trawlers which are not operating $200,000, maintenance cost $200,000 and loss of wages in the area of 1.6 million dollars. I had estimated a loss of 3.2 million, including lost wages. The Provincial Treasurer now tells us, or told us the other day. that it is 3.4 million without considering the loss to the economy of the Island of over 1.5 million dollars in wages. (Applause) This bring the total loss figure in Georgetown since this Government took over, to over five million dollars in the past sixteen months. Some time ago I mentioned such a figure on a tele- vision broadcast and on the following day I was immediately assured through the medium of the press by the Premier that the figure of six million dollars was a gross exaggeration. As it turns out I was wrong by less than ten or fifteen percent. Now, against these staggering losses, the Government has received $4,798 for making ice in Georgetown.

Walter R. Shaw: That’s a big development. (Laughter)

J. Cyril Sinnott: Truly, this Province has the most expensive ice making plant in the world!

Walter R. Shaw: That should keep the Ministers cool.

J. Cyril Sinnott: And the Fishermen’s Loan Board, to make matters worse, is con- tinuing to build ships at Bathurst Marine for no apparent reason. The raison d’etre 0f Bathurst Marine is the fish processing plant of Gulf Garden Foods and if the fish processing plant is not going to operate, there is no reason for the existence of the other company and if you are not going to open Gulf Garden Foods, then the ships

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