If we don't delay, as you identified, we believe that there will be about 18% or 19% of businesses at risk of closing. In addition, there's about one-third in total who are saying that there's no way they're going to be able to pay by January 18. It's going to be a struggle for them to figure out how they're going to pay it.
We're already seeing all kinds of statistics showing that small businesses are closing their doors. We've seen more door closures—since 2008—over the last two or three years. Bankruptcies are up 40% year over year. Bankruptcies are just a small fraction of it. They're the tip of the iceberg. Most businesses just simply close their doors and walk away.
We're concerned that if we don't delay the year, more businesses will go bankrupt, which means the government will not get that money. If we give them more time, hopefully more of them will be able to pay it back; they will be able to honour their commitment.
Being able to keep the forgivable portion is really important. For many people, that's good. It's a large amount of money for a small business to have to come up with. If they have a $60,000 loan and they have to pay back all $60,000, even at 5%, that's going to be rough to do over.... The extra year has been great. It will be three years now to pay it off, but it's still going to be a real struggle for many of them.
If we can give them a little more time to get the forgivable portion and then have another two years after that to pay the rest, I think that would go a long way towards helping many of them.