Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening, Minister Morneau. Thank you for being here. I also want to acknowledge the entire team of officials at this meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance.
I'm very pleased with today's announcement regarding commercial rental assistance. I'm also very pleased with the expanded eligibility criteria for guaranteed loans. There used to be a requirement to have a payroll of between $50,000 and $1 million. Now, the payroll must be between $20,000 and $1.5 million. This will make a big difference. We're very pleased about this.
At this time, the application form that people must fill out to obtain the emergency assistance contains an oddity. I'll read it:
14. Per the requirements of the Program, as set out by the Government of Canada, the Borrower confirms that: ... (c) It is not an entity owned by individual(s) holding political office; ...
I'm wondering about elected municipal officials. For example, I'm thinking of a reeve who owns a microbrewery in Lac-Saint-Jean, a municipal councillor who runs a store in the Laurentians, or a school board trustee who owns a restaurant in Bas-Saint-Laurent. More and more people are worried about losing their businesses. At this time, some financial institutions don't know the scope of this exclusion. They've been waiting for clarification from your department for the past two days. In the meantime, the applications are being put on hold.
Are you able to answer my question? If not, could Mr. Halverson answer it?