If we broaden the discussion to small businesses, many of the things that Lauren shared are very relevant for all the sectors. Keep in mind the sectors that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. We've talked about the groups of employees who have been hardest hit, but the sectors include restaurants and hospitality more broadly; arts and recreation businesses, which have been eviscerated by the pandemic; the retail sector, which has been desperately hard hit; and service businesses—hair salons, nail salons and others. All those businesses that rely on face-to-face or in-person contact, and often physical contact with their customers, have been really hard hit, and many of them are not going to survive this.
We are getting more stories of business owners calling us, often in tears, saying they have been a successful business for 50 years and have nothing left. They're done, and they're asking to whom they turn in the keys to their business.
As I've mentioned at committee before, an increasing number of calls from business owners to the CFIB's business help lines are turning into suicide prevention. They are that desperate, because they see their life's work, their income and often their homes, which they have remortgaged to support the business, potentially disappearing before their eyes. These are desperate times, and they add a huge amount of richness to the Canadian economy. We need them and we need them to stick around.
As committee members know, my organization opposes business subsidies, often advising you against creating subsidy programs for business, yet I have somehow become Canada's leading advocate for business subsidization right now. The reason is that these are often good, solid businesses, but they cannot survive with the requirements for physical distancing we have right now, the lockdowns or the advice to Canadians to stay home. That's why I think government needs to support them, fix the gaps in the programs and fix them quickly so Canadians have jobs to come back to when this is all over.