Thank you, Mark.
Good afternoon, committee members. It's great to be back.
Since early 2021, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce has been calling for a more sector-specific approach to the government's business support programs. While the pandemic has touched all of us in a number of ways, the fact remains that businesses in certain sectors have felt the impacts of COVID more acutely than others. That is why we are pleased to see the next iteration of business support programs include a suite of measures that allow businesses in different stages of recovery to access supports to see them through the pandemic.
With Canada's high vaccine uptake and the adoption of proof-of-vaccine credentials by provinces across the country, many COVID restrictions impeding the ability of businesses to operate at full steam over the last two years have either been removed or relaxed, but as Mark noted earlier, this is not uniform for all sectors.
Businesses are acutely aware that public health measures can be reintroduced at any time, and we need to make sure that they have adequate government support to get through these situations. Bill C-2 introduces business support measures that are comprehensive and that provide support for those businesses that continue to have operations restricted as well as for those that are seeing their revenues return.
The tourism and hospitality recovery program provides targeted support for the tourism, travel and hospitality, and arts and culture sectors, while the hardest-hit sectors recovery program provides some relief to businesses in other sectors that continue to see revenue declines of 50% or more. For businesses that do not fall into either of these categories because of revenue declines that are less severe, the Canada recovery hiring program is available to help cover wages if a business's wage bill is higher today than it was in March and April of 2021.
Bill C-2 also includes maximum wage and rent subsidy supports for businesses that are impacted by fresh lockdowns in the future, an important measure as uncertainty increases with the emergence of the omicron variant. Ultimately, the most important thing is to ensure uninterrupted support for those businesses that are still struggling. Therefore, we encourage all parliamentarians to pass this legislation without delay. This is also especially important in light of the upcoming holiday season and the previously mentioned uncertainty around the omicron variant.
Thank you for having us here today. We look forward to taking your questions.