Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to our dedicated public servants. We appreciate deeply your dedication during this pandemic, and we hope that you and your families continue to remain safe and healthy during this very difficult time. We appreciate your availability today.
I'll get right into it. First off, I would like to say that an in camera session on the distribution of vaccine contracts is something that I support as well.
I'd like to start off with questions around the CERB repayment.
It wasn't considered a “nudge” by my constituents, people who received the bills at the end of December stating that they owed money on CERB repayment—thousands of dollars. People took this as almost catastrophic in terms of their personal finances, as they struggle to put food on the table throughout the pandemic. The government eventually relented, a few days ago, and said that self-employed people don't have to make that CERB repayment, because it was essentially redefining the category.
I'd like to know how many Canadians who received that payment notice in December are still not covered by the exemption for the self-employed that was announced in February.