Thank you, Minister, for being here.
As you know, we have just heard recently that the restaurant association of Canada says that one out of two independent restaurants doesn't expect to reopen. The B.C. Chamber of Commerce has also identified that over 50% of businesses that are closed right now don't expect to reopen.
We know how important rent is. Australia has a confederation as well, like Canada. They have worked with the provinces and have come up with an agreement. My colleague Peter Julian and I presented an agreement two weeks ago. We were happy to see the Prime Minister, five days later, commit to rent abatement. The problem is, that was nine days ago. Tomorrow is one week away from half of the businesses in this country not being able to pay their rent. We're on the verge, on the cliff right now of losing half of the small businesses in this country.
One of my constituents, Amy Hadikin, owns Kickstart Fitness and yoga studio in Parksville. She showed up and her doors were locked. She was able to negotiate paying the triple net, which is $1,700, from zero revenue right now. She has to pay that to get the locks taken off and buy some time.
They need to know when you're going to have this agreement in place. It's a week out. Are you going to have a deal done by the end of the week with the provinces so that you can provide relief? They're not looking for loans. They're looking for subsidies to help them get through this. They can't afford more debt, or they're going to walk away.