First of all, with respect to the Service Canada locations, I must say that I am not a logistics expert. I know that the locations vary in size, but it is possible to open some, at least in most of the mid-sized cities in Canada, because there is a need.
In terms of the impacts of that, I don't know if it is happening everywhere in the same way, but as I mentioned, right now it is impossible for some people to use the Internet because they don't have access to it at home and they cannot go to the usual community centres where they can use a computer for an hour or two. As for the telephone information line, it is only just starting to calm down. However, in the first few weeks, people were calling us constantly to say that they were simply unable to get an answer, despite many attempts, or that they had been waiting for hours on the telephone. The service is inadequate and that needs to be rectified as soon as possible.
Since the government was unable to meet the demand, our groups had to do it. For instance, in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region, we sometimes filled out online applications for people by obtaining their information over the telephone. Those are the kinds of repercussions that have affected our groups in a concrete way. So this situation is not easy, especially for our groups, who, like just about everyone else, are working from home. They have had to reorganize at home. The vast majority of them are not even in their usual workplace.
With regard to the CESB, if I understood your question correctly, I would say that we would prefer a measure similar to the one that was finally introduced for the CERB, that is, to take a small amount into consideration. I don't know if it would be $1,000 as it is with the CERB, but if they can prove that they have lost or expect to lose income, we feel that students should have access to it. For them, as I said, it's also an income that will allow them to continue their studies. This issue has not been raised much in the debates. Personally, I have not heard much about it. That whole dimension must be considered as well.
As for what happens next, we certainly need to ask ourselves that question. Although we immediately think of the restaurant sector, which is often mentioned, there are entire sectors that will take time to reopen. There are even sectors we do not necessarily think about that export some of their products. When will they be able to start exporting again? It is all well and good to get people back to work, but will they be able to sell their products?
There may be a long period in which businesses will recall only part of their staff or reduce their work hours. We don't yet know how this will play out, but we need to think about it. I feel employment insurance will play a central role. I do not know how the government will finance the employment insurance fund, but at the rate things are going, if we take the money out of the fund, very soon there will be nothing left. We have to get the program up and running again anyway, and we have to discuss how it will be done. We have to debate it as a society, and we need to invite stakeholders to express their views on it.
