Mr. Chair, this is not something that is a surprise to the committee at all. What these amendments seek to do is extend the wage subsidy until the end of the year and extend the rent subsidy until the end of the year.
We have heard repeatedly from organizations, particularly in the tourism industry, that have been very clear about the importance of not closing up shop and assuming that the impacts of COVID are over, but rather extending those supports so that small businesses can actually get through this third wave and possibly a fourth wave—hopefully not. However, we need to make sure that those supports are in place.
There has been very compelling testimony, so there is no doubt that this is what numerous witnesses have been calling on us to do: to extend the wage subsidy with certain conditions that I'll come to a little bit later on. There have been some abuses, and we need to make sure that those abuses are curtailed and ensure that the rent subsidy is there for small businesses as well.
The idea that we should start to scale down COVID support when so many people are continuing to be impacted by this third wave that is still crashing on our shores is something that is very perplexing. That's why so many witnesses came forward to say that we really need to ensure that there is an extension and a provision so that these programs provide the support that is so desperately needed at this time.
That is the intent of the amendments. They are linked, so essentially we are talking about extending the wage subsidy until December 31 and extending the rent subsidy until December 31, in that way ensuring that we actually have the wherewithal to provide supports to small businesses and the tourism industry at a most desperate time for so many of them.