Thank you, got it. I've been laughing at all the reporters and now I'm doing it myself.
It is an incredibly difficult job that you have to try to get the balance right between dealing with the health care emergency and dealing with the economic emergency that COVID-19 has created. I think the government has been moving positively toward getting the measures right for the emergency phase, and I think many of the right tools are in place.
The big gap that we see right now for our members is with respect to dealing with some of their fixed costs, most notably rent. That is a huge concern for small business owners and does fit in with the nature of your question as to what's going to prepare us for the future to help us recover as quickly as we can. Wages are the largest expense. Fixed costs like rent are the second-largest expense in most small companies, and that's where the shoe is pinching. The emergency business account can play a role. We like the $10,000 forgivable portion of that.
Provincial governments need to step up to the table as well. We also need to work on an orderly plan to allow small businesses to reopen in a safe manner because, with the emergency services rules as they are, if everyone was prepared for this to be a couple of weeks and that couple of weeks is now into a couple of months, a third of our members are telling us that they will not survive and will permanently close their doors, so your point is an excellent one.
I don't think we've put enough attention on that piece yet to try to ensure that businesses are well prepared to reopen, but I'm encouraged that the Prime Minister was starting to talk about it this week.