Excellent. Thank you very much.
Minister, I appreciate the hard work that you're doing in these difficult times. I hope you and your family are in good health. I thank you for all the work you and your staff are doing.
On March 18, you announced a wage subsidy worth only 10% of wages paid. The opposition and employers told you it was too small to make any difference. You ignored that. On March 25, you introduced a bill in the House of Commons with that 10% wage subsidy and told the Senate of Canada on the same day that employers did not need any more than 10%. Two days later, you did a 180° reversal and announced the wage subsidy would in fact be 75%. You changed all the terms and conditions, but then realized that the wage subsidy you had announced was so different from the one you passed into law that you would need to bring Parliament back to do over what you could have done the first time. We've now lost two weeks because of this mistake and confusion.
On top of that, your officials tell us it will take three to six weeks for the CRA to even begin receiving applications for the wage subsidy.
Minister, thousands of businesses employing millions of workers teeter on the brink of bankruptcy now. There is no more time and no more cash. When will small businesses get the wage subsidy cash in their accounts? When?