I apologize for that, MP Green, and I apologize to the interpreter.
As I was saying, the only thing on my mind was how to make sure that we got the information out about the programs. They were changing as well, because they were responding to the needs of businesses at the time. When I look back on the kinds of programs that were lending support, it was the small business loan. It was the deferral of the GST and HST for small business owners and for entrepreneurs, those sole proprietors. There were wage subsidies to make sure that employers could keep their employees on staff. It was deferring income taxes and it was relief for commercial rent. There were supports for young entrepreneurs, high-growth companies that had a different threshold that they needed to meet, and it was making sure that there were regional supports, because the needs across the country were different.
These were developed over the course of days and weeks, and my absolute priority, the government's absolute priority, was to be sure that we were able to effectively share this information with business owners and entrepreneurs so that they could access the supports.
Today I would say that some 5.3 million jobs were saved because of the wage subsidy. To give you a sense of the take-up on the loans, within a week of our launching that small business loan program, there were just under 200,000 businesses that were approved within a week, just to give you a scale. Through that period, there were just under a million businesses, about 960,000 businesses, that got access to the loan. On the deferral of GST, HST and customs duties, 3.2 million businesses were helped because of just those three things, in addition to the list of other programs and supports that we'd put forward.
To answer your question, that was the top priority. That was the top priority for days, for weeks and for months, and we kept doing this work. I would say that everyone did this work, including all members here, because we all represent business owners, we all represent Canadians and we all represent those constituents who were looking to us.