Mr. Speaker, small businesses across Canada have been closing their doors and struggling to survive since the beginning of the pandemic in March and yet the Liberals have designed their rent relief program so that business owners only take on more debt. CECRA was a deeply flawed and broken program and the Liberals knew that when they launched it. Not only did businesses need to show a 70% revenue loss, but business owners needed their landlords' permission to apply.
To fix their own mistake, they have announced a new tenant-focused program that only offers support to and from the end of September. The Liberals designed a commercial rent subsidy program that left the majority of small businesses behind. I do not understand why they will not make the necessary changes so that commercial renters who were left out the first time can get the retroactive financial support they need to weather this storm.
New Democrats are calling on the government to save the hardest-hit businesses by backdating the rent program to April. This will help them catch up on their rent, rehire the employees they let go and save small business across the country.