February 6, 1998
(Executive Council)

Province anxiously awaiting Harrigan Report on implications of impending termination of TAGS

"Harrigan's report on the impact of the TAGS Program and the implications of its pending termination is extremely important to Newfoundland and Labrador," says Beaton Tulk, Minister of Development and Rural Renewal and chair of the Cabinet Committee on Rural Revitalization. "What Mr. Harrigan has to say about the impacts of the groundfish crisis on our rural communities will be critical to the federal government's consideration of how to deal with the expiry of TAGS in August."

Mr. Tulk explained that Eugene Harrigan, an official of the federal Department of Human Resources Development, was appointed by HRDC Minister Pierre Pettigrew in September to examine the impacts of TAGS and its pending termination on Atlantic Canada. During the late fall, Harrigan conducted a number of fact finding sessions throughout the Atlantic Provinces, with several held in Newfoundland and Labrador. His report, which had originally been due by the end of December, is expected to be presented to Minister Pettigrew and released to the public any day now.

Mr. Tulk said: "Based on Harrigan's previous statements to the province's media it is anticipated that he will be reporting that the impacts of TAGS and its termination will be most heavily felt in Newfoundland and Labrador, with the pressure on rural communities and the out migration issue being much more sharply focused here than elsewhere in Atlantic Canada."

Furthermore, Mr. Tulk feels that Harrigan will convey the message that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who have been displaced from the groundfish fishery are hardworking people who want to work, and that people feel that community economic development is important but that any development programs must reflect the realities of their communities.

Contact: Pat Power, (709) 729-4570.