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“A bureaucrat in Ottawa can brief their minister and say, ‘Look at this area: they shouldn’t be looking for foreign workers because there are 400 people unemployed and they list their occupation as fish plant workers.’

“But, they’re working.” Morrissey said.

Fish plants’ schedules, Morrissey pointed out, are largely dictated by fishing seasons established by the federal government.

While the real crunch time comes in May, Morrissey suggests many fish plants would be able to operate on a sporadic basis throughout the winter with lobster from Nova Scotia, if it were not for an Employment Insurance system that, he says, discourages seasonal workers from accepting part-time work.

“If you bring that product in overnight, and it’s there, and you need 80 people to process it within the timeframe before it dies, and 40 show up… So, what does the plant do? It doesn’t bother going through the frustration of that any more.”

And the region suffers economically, he added.

Not only can the temporary foreign worker program help fill the gap, Morrissey said it can also be used to promote population growth in Prince County.

He said the Egmont riding has not benefitted to the extent of other regions of P.E.I from immigration.

“We should be sitting down as a government and figure out how to get some of those temporary foreign workers to stay here.”