Ocean Choice discussion dominates legislature

The closure of P.E.I.'s largest lobster processor continued to dominate discussion in the legislature for a third day on Thursday.

Ocean Choice International announced earlier this week that it was putting its plant in Souris up for sale and would not open for the spring fishery on May 2.

Opposition MLA Jim Bagnall blasted Premier Robert Ghiz about his refusal to provide any further financial assistance to the company.

"How can you stand in this house and say that you had nothing to do with the closure of the plant when you had everything to do with the closure of the plant?" Bagnall asked.

"What the premier said was, 'I don't care. It's not going to be any good politically for me, I will not do it.' He turned his back on the people of Souris, he turned his back on everybody in Eastern Kings."

Ghiz told the house he was not willing to risk taxpayers' dollars on a company that already owed $9.75 million.

The money owed is from the a deal in 2004, when Ocean Choice International purchased the assets of the bankrupt company Polar Foods from the province.

"We wanted to see long term plans. They didn't have long term plans. They were looking for short term solutions, short term solutions like we saw with Polar Foods," said Ghiz.

"We were not going down that road."

The premier had rejected further financial assistance for the company in March, when he met with the Ocean Choice International's chief operating officer Blaine Sullivan at the International Boston Seafood Show.

Sullivan told CBC News on Thursday that after he spoke with the premier, he got a call from Allan Campbell, the minister of innovation and advanced learning. Campbell is the MLA for Souris.

"Shortly after I returned from the Boston Seafood Show, I had a call from Minister Campbell expressing his concern about closing the plant and asking us if we could engage and if there was possibly a solution," Sullivan said.

Campbell said he did speak with Sullivan and continued searching for a solution to the company's problems until last week. With no help from the province at that point, the company decided to close.

"I made it quite clear that we weren't certainly able to meet the expectations of what the company had asked for," Campbell told reporters.

"Is it difficult? Of course it is. It's a significant employer in my own community but I have to be responsible to all Islanders."

In a statement released Wednesday, Sullivan said the company wants to focus more on lobster marketing, rather than processing. He also criticized the province's attacks on the company, saying it would make selling the plant more difficult.