Mr. Speaker, I am dealing with a number of companies that are really struggling with the Canada emergency business account, or CEBA. Their bottom lines are being hammered right now.
I know of one small business that has been turned down three times. It is trying to work through this. The owners have been told that their stock does not count in their costs and that their Visa bills cannot be used, even though most small businesses in my region are paying with Visa to get supplies. They have tried three times. When we tried to get answers for them, we found out that this work was outsourced to the Canada Development Investment Corporation.
The CDIC is arm's length, but it does not have a clue what it is like to be a small business owner in northern Ontario. This is a $40,000 loan. It should be straightforward. We should be able to phone and find out what the problem is. Instead, we are seeing businesses about to go under if the government does not start to fix the problems.
I would ask my hon. colleague what he thinks we need to do to make sure the money that should get out the door to small businesses actually gets to them.