Mr. Speaker, this year, we are celebrating Small Business Week a little differently, by focusing on the tremendous strength and resilience that small business owners have shown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit, our government needed to act like an entrepreneur, rolling out innovative new programs to save millions of jobs and protect household budgets across the country, and we had to do it in record time. Programs like the Canada emergency wage subsidy have been successful because of the engagement and feedback from business people across the country.
Just last week, the Prime Minister and I sat down with people at Steve's Poké Bar. These outstanding local business people shared their thoughts about how our government's support programs have worked for small businesses. We incorporated feedback from meetings like these into our most recent changes to the wage subsidy, the rent subsidy and the emergency business account.
Small businesses create jobs and support families right across the country. It is important to acknowledge the people and the families behind these businesses, and to let them know that Canada has their backs during this crisis.