Mr. Speaker, I have spoken with many business owners across Canada, including in my own community, who have been raising issues like this with me for several months.
The good news is we have stepped up in a way that no government ever has in the history of our nation to provide direct support to businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic. In order to help with the costs for their employees, we advanced a wage subsidy, which is keeping three million workers on the payroll. In order to help with the fixed costs for small and medium-sized businesses, we advanced the emergency business account, which is helping over 700,000 Canadian businesses.
Now, to address commercial rent, we are putting forward the Canada emergency rent subsidy, which is going to help them stay in their premises as long as is possible, so they can still keep—