Yes, the reason we moved ahead on the emergency community support fund was that we heard from the community-based organizations that were providing really important work and delivering important services, as well as food and medicine, to the most vulnerable in our communities. But the same organizations that we rely on to take care of the most vulnerable in our country were, themselves, facing pressures, whether it was a drop in donations, a drop in volunteers, or sometimes facing new costs that they did not have to face before.
The member for Spadina—Fort York told me about an organization in his constituency that used to get free baked goods from a business. Now, because of COVID-19, the business has closed, so suddenly this non-profit had to buy baked goods. That is an extra cost they simply didn't face before.
The $350 million is meant to target those organizations and reinforce them so they can not only continue to deliver those important services, but actually reach more people.