Yes, we were hit first. We were hit hardest. As I mentioned, we lost more employees in the first six weeks than the entire Canadian economy lost in the 2008 recession. That also means we stand ready to rebuild those jobs exceptionally quickly. The caveat to that, of course, is the fact that we need to survive long enough to have a place to create those jobs, so for us it really comes down to the key pillars of the wage and rent subsidies.
I don't want to keep beating a dead horse, but taking out debt to pay down more debt is not sustainable for any cohort or pillar of our economy. Restaurants in particular stand ready, having made significant investments—even over the course of this apocalypse while we were shut down—in the health and safety of not just our staff and employees but of Canadians and all guests who come into our establishments.
In the regions where we have been fortunate enough to reopen, with limited capacity, for indoor dining, it has been a challenge. For many of our smaller independent operators, limiting their capacity to, say, 50%—as that percentage seems to be what most governments rely on—means you have two people at a table. That's for your entire restaurant. The staff required to turn over the table, the cooks required and the additional labour we have to bring in to make sure we can sanitize everything on a regular basis in shifts means our labour expenses are even higher when we're able to serve only 50% capacity.
For many people, and many small business owners and restaurants in particular, it's extremely difficult to make the case to stay open, which is why it again comes back down to those subsidies. They are crucial for our survival.
Thank you so much.