Certainly.
Right now, the level of optimism of small business owners is quite low, and there are many reasons for that. One is that every single line of a small business budget is increasing. Whether it's their insurance costs, taxes, regulation costs, wage costs or borrowing costs, every single line of a small business budget is increasing.
Also, the current demand is falling, so there's insufficient domestic and foreign demand for our small businesses in Canada. They are still facing huge pressure from labour shortages.
Small businesses have to carry a huge amount of debt, notably because of the pandemic, and the level of sales is low. The increased cost of doing business is hitting small businesses really hard, so the current situation is quite difficult for many of our members.