Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you all today.
The Fitness Industry Council of Canada represents over 6,000 fitness facilities, ranging from single boutiques to large regional and national chains. We employ over 150,000 Canadians coast to coast to coast, and we serve over six million members.
We've been decimated by the closures and the restrictions arising from COVID-19. To give some context, if a facility is able to be open, they are operating at around 50% of pre-COVID levels. If they're forced to close, they're operating at 0% to 10%, depending on their online presence.
We still have fixed cost bases. We applaud the federal government for the CEWS program and the CERS program. They have been very well received and appreciated. However, there are still other costs that we incur.
Little consideration has been given to new start-up businesses that opened in January or February of 2020. With regard to regional chains with multiple locations, the fact that their CERS is capped means they're still on the hook for the balance of their rent. At the end of the day, after government supports, facilities are still losing between $15,000 and $30,000 per month. We have asked the provincial governments for industry-specific support.
I'm here today to talk about how we, as an industry, can be part of the collective health and wellness of Canadians and do our part to help with the national recovery. We're not here to ask for a bailout; we're here to be part of the solution.
We know that exercise has a multitude of benefits. It reduces hypertension by 33% to 60%. It reduces diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It reduces risks of stroke and colon cancer, of breast cancer and Alzheimer's, and it reduces the impacts of anxiety and depression. We also know that COVID-19, unfortunately, has significant impacts for those who have one or more of these chronic conditions.
How can we be part of a solution? Post-COVID, we're looking to ask the federal government and PHAC to expand the Prescription to Get Active program across Canada. For those who don't know about the program, it's based out of Alberta, and it links primary care—your physician—with the fitness and recreation options in your community. We have no-cost and low-cost options. We have fitness facilities. We have remote options for those who are in rural or rural remote areas or are simply not interested in joining a facility.
We want to expand this program. It is turnkey, but it is also flexible to accommodate various geographical regions of Canada. For example, northern Ontario is much different from downtown Vancouver.
We are also asking the federal government to have fitness expenses—fitness memberships and services—considered a medical expense. On your federal tax return, you could include fitness as a medical expense. We have the ability to provide attendance reports for auditability. We have professionals from coast to coast to coast who are ready, willing and able to serve Canadians, to help build sustainable behaviour change to ensure that we create healthy and active lifestyles.
The infrastructure already exists. This truly is a stroke-of-the-pen change that we're asking for. We believe that with this change, we can provide the government with a significant return on investment, over 500%, in terms of reducing the overall burden on the health care system. We can move somebody with a chronic condition from sedentary to physically active, inspiring Canadians to take proactive steps toward their own health and wellness.
We will get many of our young people back to work. Our industry employs many young people. We have college and university programs across the country that do a fabulous job of creating fitness professionals. They will have a viable industry to enter, and we'll get many of our folks we've had to lay off back to work. We will rebuild our industry.
As I mentioned earlier, we have incurred significant amounts of debt. Many operators are now well over $200,000 to $250,000 in debt. By adding fitness as a tax deduction, we believe we can get more people into our industry to help us pay back those debt amounts.
In summary, we're here today to be part of the solution. We'd like to partner with government, and we look forward to answering any questions you may have.