One thing we're hoping is that the government will pick up the tab for the majority of the rent bill from businesses that have essentially been shut down as a result of the pandemic. Of course, provincial governments have ordered many businesses to close, but the costs of rent have been borne by them to date.
We were encouraged when the Prime Minister announced that the rent subsidy would pick up April, May and June. That is good news, but it does need to be substantive. If it's a couple of thousand dollars, that would worry us, because business rents are all different shapes and sizes, of course, depending on the size, structure and location of the business in Canada. We're hoping that it will cover a minimum of 75% of the rent, if not all of the rental expense.
We want to make sure that the program doesn't have a bunch of exceptions to it based on business structure. For a lot of the programs, we talked about how the programs are fairly narrowly targeted. They're excluding some—like those in agriculture—that have big needs and big dollars attached. There are also a lot of programs that are excluding the very smallest of small businesses because they may be unincorporated, or they may not have a payroll of a certain threshold or they may pay with dividends or contract labour.
Ensuring that it's broadly applicable to renters would be super helpful. We're hoping to hear more about that, potentially as soon as tomorrow.