Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to follow up a little on what my colleague from the Bloc just brought up.
Edmonton Strathcona of course is home to a number of festivals. The Edmonton fringe festival is one of them, but we also have the Edmonton Heritage Festival, the street performers' festival, the art folks. All of them weren't able to go forward, and all of them have deep impacts across the community in terms their effect on restaurants and shops and all kinds of things.
You have given us some information about this subject, and I appreciate it. I would, however, press very hard the point that these festivals are vital for so much economic and cultural response in our communities.
One question I want to ask concerns venues. We have a large number of performance venues, both for-profit and non-profit. Because there were a number of issues with the CECRA, the rent program, many of those venues weren't able to access it and had to close. We have heard that others who have been hanging on just trying to get through until spring are now worried that they are on the verge of shutting down forever.
Can you talk about how you are planning to help venues with the current restrictions? We're asking them to stay closed for safety reasons. How can we make sure they are protected?