Thank you, Mr. Julian, for raising all of those important issues.
I'll start with the wage subsidy. If I have time, I'll say a couple of things about long-term care.
On the wage subsidy, I hear your concerns. It is important for companies to understand that, legally, the wage subsidy can only be used to pay employees. It can't be used for any other purposes. Any allegations of misuse should be reported to the CRA. There are penalties for misuse of the wage subsidy. It is an additional 25% penalty and potentially imprisonment, in cases of fraud.
It was and is important for us to have that support out there, but we do take abuses seriously.
The other thing I would say about the wage subsidy is that my priority, at the end of the day, is to keep as many Canadians working as possible. Our supports—and I would say the ingenuity and resilience of Canadians—mean that we are getting through this unprecedented global pandemic.
However, at the end of the day, there are still 636,000 Canadians who don't have a job today who had one before the virus hit. For that reason, our objective has been and continues to be to have in place the most comprehensive set of supports we can to keep people working. The wage subsidy is a really important program in that regard because it keeps people connected to their jobs.
As you know very well, Mr. Julian, that is so important for a person's sense of self-worth and dignity. Also, if one becomes long-term unemployed, it is much harder to get back into the workforce. That's the rationale there.
I could say more about long-term care, but I see you wanting to talk and maybe I've run out of time.