Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree with the hon. member for Victoria. Yes, these programs should be retroactive. There are small businesses that did not get this rent subsidy because their landlords refused to apply. As I said, some small businesses have already shut down. It is too late for them, but others have racked up huge amounts of debt. Some of that is credit card debt that the banks have padded their wallets with. Again, we are seeing huge profits by big banks. If we do not protect these small businesses, we will have more multinationals taking care of the goods and services in our communities and sucking all of that wealth out of them and putting it offshore.
We absolutely need to protect our small businesses. These programs should be retroactive.