Thank you for the question. I understand the concern. Believe me, if you wanted to canvass members of Parliament, I think you would have a pretty good idea of what kinds of concerns are popping up. People are reaching out to our offices more often than they ever have before with questions and concerns about their eligibility.
Specifically on the issue, there's a distinction, just based on the language you've used, between new businesses and start-ups in the traditional sense. On the question as it pertains to new businesses that may not satisfy the payroll requirement because they haven't been paying people long enough to qualify, even though their annualized pay may exceed $20,000, that's one group that we're looking at finding solutions for, although they may be eligible through some of the programs that will be released through the regional development agencies or the community futures program.
For start-ups , the challenge is more specific in that many of them have been around for a few years but are at a pre-revenue stage of their business's evolution. For those business owners, we've made a major investment through IRAP to help ensure that the tech sector can continue to exist and thrive in Canada. We're looking at what further measures we can put in place to ensure that they have access to the cash they need to survive this storm.