Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister Freeland, for being here today. We you hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy during this pandemic.
Canadians are really struggling. A lot of them are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and a lot of them are trying just to keep their small businesses going.
It's very disturbing, then, to find out from journalists who have been investigating some of the distribution of COVID relief that dozens of large Canadian companies have been using COVID funds to issue dividends, engage in stock buybacks and even give executive bonuses [Technical difficulty—Editor]