We have a whole separate letter about new businesses and how to fix all the programs, including on rent, and make it available to them. I get the government's concern about having these programs leak like a sieve and allowing fraudsters to create fake businesses in order to access government subsidies. It's a legit concern. I take it seriously.
There are a couple of things. You require them to have a business number before March 1 for some of the programs. I think that for the rent program it's September 1. If you didn't have that beforehand, you are ineligible. Also, you have to compare to 2019. If you don't have a similar month in 2019, you're ineligible. There's a whole host of rules that need to change. My suggestion is that the government allow the average for the industry in that province to be used as a calculator to determine the size and scope of the subsidy for, say, a restaurant in Ontario, in order to do the comparison.
We put all of this in a letter to Minister Freeland. The government knows what to do. We need to get them to move on this, because these businesses have been without any support for the entire pandemic.