Finance committee  We know that they didn't use it for the workers who were laid off before they were fired. We know that. In terms of information about who they did use it for, I can make an assumption, but we don't know because they haven't told us. They could have used it for management or they could have used it for the skeleton crew that they have immediately on staff, but we just don't know.

Finance committee  Over 140 were fired in recent weeks.

Finance committee  That's right.

Finance committee  That's a good question. We don't know that. Again, the Red Cross is in there. We don't know what they're paying them. Again, you'd have to verify this, but we did hear that they sought employees from the street and trained them to do some of the work that our members would be doing, and that they've also hired a cleaning company.

Finance committee  I think it's too early to tell, because it's a proposed program. I don't know if they've issued all the rules. The only thing we've seen so far in a write-up about the program—it's not supposed to go into effect until after the budget passes, so maybe it starts in June—is that it's only supposed to be used by Canadian-based private companies.

Finance committee  I agree. Transparency is critical. This is public money being given to employers to subsidize the business to keep workers attached to their jobs, and that isn't happening. If we don't know how much they've received and if we don't know how many workers have actually been covered under the program, how much of their pre-COVID staff have been retained or furloughed and put on the program....

Finance committee  Yes, the transparency is critical to understanding who accesses the program, how much they're receiving from the program and how long they used the program. The only way we find out any information about how much is used is through public companies that have to put that information into their corporate filings.

Finance committee  Yes, that's right. The Globe and Mail has done a series of stories about the problems with the wage subsidy program. I think the idea of the wage subsidy makes a whole lot of sense. We don't have a problem with employers getting access to that program. The problem is that it was described as a way to keep workers attached to their jobs.

Finance committee  Hi. Thank you for the invitation to address you today. I'm with UNITE HERE Canada, the hospitality workers' union. I'd like to address the new Canada recovery hiring program and the extended wage subsidy proposed in the budget. When launched, the government said the wage subsidy would keep workers attached to their jobs with a furlough until working.

Finance committee  Okay. Is this better?

Finance committee  Okay, thanks. You're going to hear shortly from workers from the Pacific Gateway Hotel, a federal quarantine site, whose owners are named in the CEWS registry. They recently fired over 70% of their staff. We want to know whether employers like these are going to be eligible for the federal hiring subsidy.