Thank you so much, but we know that for small businesses, as you said, it wasn't really a choice. They were actually forced to either refinance their loans with private lenders or lose out on the forgivable portion of their loan and end up with an additional $20,000 in debt.
We see things like payday loans. It kind of felt like that to me: You either do it or you pay $20,000 more in debt. That doesn't seem very kind to small businesses, with all due respect, Minister. In fact, for businesses that are ready to close their doors, for many that meant closing their doors.
How many small businesses that were forced to refinance their CEBA loans are women-owned? Do you know how many?