Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the hon. member from Winnipeg who has been very supportive of the bill. He has even had a private member's bill that was sort of complementary to this one. However let me address his question.
First and foremost, I think we have done a great deal of analysis with regard to the $3,000 cap. We believe that the $3,000 cap will be sufficient to cover off approximately 97% to 97.5%. In other words, when we calculated the small businesses and wages that have been lost, the $3,000 seems to capture most of it. We will look forward to presenting some of that information in committee.
I am flexible. If we need to move it up I can only say that I think the $3,000 will meet the true test to ensure that everybody gets his or her money. We do not want to play games with people's wages, at least as a government and through this particular bill. Obviously that is a great leap from the 13ยข on the dollar that is now being recovered under a piece of legislation that is obviously not working for workers, and so on and so forth.
Yes, we will try to cost recover but the government will be the creditor in terms of being able to recover money from the estate of the bankrupt company if there is any particular money. We believe that not only the $3,000 but the limited super priority will ensure that we can recover some of that money, which is why I indicated up to $2,000. We are prepared to look at whether that needs to be changed. That is why we think the net cost for this particular program, once there is cost recovery of some sort, is about $30 million or could increase to $50 million.
We look forward to discussing the details of whether that cap of $3,000 is sufficient, which we believe it is, and whether the $2,000 cap with regard to cost recovery is enough. We are prepared to present evidence that it would be enough. I thank the member and his party for their support as we move forward on this important legislation.