Madam Chair, I wanted to point out several shortcomings in the government's wage subsidy program. There are many reports from small businesses across the country: family businesses that receive dividends, self-employed people who own and operate businesses, seasonal businesses and project companies that receive lump sum payments.
Is the Prime Minister going to continue to broaden the eligibility criteria to look at other measures so that these struggling businesses will not have to lay off Canadian workers?
I would like to point out a very specific example. Brandt Tractor is a company in my riding and a great Canadian success story. They purchased another business in October 2019, so they are not able to show a 30% drop in revenue specifically because they now have on their books the operations from the company that they purchased. However, if we take all of the activity together it is far beyond a 30% drop, yet because of the eligibility criteria, they will be unable to keep hundreds of workers on the job.
Will the Prime Minister continue to look at these types of cases to make sure this program catches as many people as it possibly can?