Thank you.
This is a comment particularly at the federal level, but also for a number of the provinces, in fact, maybe most of them. I think there needs to be a lot more use of faster means of trying to get money into the hands of businesses, and to some extent, individuals. Some of it is okay, but let me give the wage subsidy program as an example, which I think can be very important for small businesses, although there are some other issues that are important that I'll talk about in a moment.
The wage subsidy program is relying on a distribution by the federal government's setting up a portal, which will take six weeks to do and who knows how long after that for money to actually get paid out. I hate to say it, but I've had bad experience in governments with portal creations. Sometimes they can be much more problematic than one thinks.
It does make me wonder, especially when it comes to the business side, why we don't use the banking system, which has a tremendous network that can reach all businesses, as a way of trying to get applications done through the banks and getting that information into governments. As well, as the banks already know the firms and what kind of situation they're in, they're able to get the data very quickly to them and the money would be provided very quickly through the banking system out to small businesses. I'm not a complete expert on how to do that exactly in the sense of all the details that would be involved, but I really do think we need to use some mechanisms that go faster than simply things being set up in that way.
I also think at the federal level there's too much reliance on BDC and EDC for distribution of funds. That is not to say they aren't fine organizations—it's not a criticism of them—but potentially they could get overwhelmed. Again, the banks themselves all have relationships with businesses already that need the funding, and I think various types of distributions should be done through them.
Finally, on the wage subsidy, there are some particular issues that I think are critical for many businesses right now, especially at the small end. The first is that with the wage subsidy program itself, based on a 30% loss in revenues, I think it's appropriate that you want to have something in place. Some businesses are going to do fine and are doing fine. These include, for example, grocers. It includes those in delivery. Some of the restaurants are doing okay because they have a very good take-out and delivery system, etc. I think some of them have not had collapsing revenues or not nearly as bad, and so I think it's appropriate to have some measure of that.
We have to remember that there are firms that have very small margins. I wouldn't say very small—they make money—but their margins may be 10% or 15%, and so a 30% decline in revenue can actually put a business in jeopardy. While the information given on how people are coping with the pandemic right now is positive, and it's nice to hear that, as we go further along and as we potentially go into June before people can start getting back to work, there are going to be more people in jeopardy, including small businesses, as well as many individuals, and it's going to get harder and harder for them to meet their bills.
That's why I think it's really important to get the funding out soon.