We've been doing a lot of thinking about just that. It requires careful coordination with the provincial governments, obviously. Provinces are the ones that have put the emergency services rules in place. I will say that while we did need to put very blunt measures in place quickly, of course, to be able to slow the curve, now that this going into month two and there are no signs in many parts of the country that it's lifting, we need to rethink some of those emergency services rules to allow a trickle, a heartbeat, of business in more and more locations.
We've learned a lot over the last little while, and I do think that where government could help is in ensuring that businesses have an understanding of the rules of the game, and of what social distancing might mean in more small firms and helping them procure protective equipment to be able to operate through the start-up phase of the pandemic. We're coming to that soon in some provinces—as soon as May in Saskatchewan, for example, God willing—but we need to start thinking about these measures now.
Many of our members have pointed out that if Costco and Walmart are allowed to sell frying pans and T-shirts, but we've prevented the tiniest little stores from selling anything, that's quite unfair, and these stores can play a role. Small firms can serve consumers safely through the start-up phase.
We're working with provincial governments to try to do some of that. Support from the federal government on the re-entry would be particularly helpful, and that's where I think the wage subsidy can play an important role as firms start to rehire the people they have laid off. I credit the government for moving on this; it was slow, but we got there with the wage subsidy. I think we're going to need to continue at least a partial measure as we move over the summer months.