Madam Speaker, it is an honour to continue in this debate on Bill C-14.
Prior to the break, during which I was able to meet with constituents, I spoke in the chamber about some of the impacts I had seen within my own community. I spoke in great detail about the travel industry, specifically the travel agents and consultants who are losing their entire livelihoods. I shared the story of Marion Rose, who has been a travel agent for the last 32 years. At one time, she had seven people working with her, and now it is down to one. As we move forward, the government needs to recognize the impacts on these businesses and organizations and what the future is going to hold for them.
Bringing these stories to light so that we can talk about the challenges people are having is important, so I want to talk about another small business, Dark Matter Toys, which is owned by Craig Lawrence, who is an incredible community advocate and spirit. He is out there doing a great job, but he has not been in a normal situation, and I want to read the message he sent me over the weekend.
“Hey Karen, Craig here.”
I am just “Karen” here, and that is what I love about doing my job here in Elgin—Middlesex—London.
“It seems I do not qualify for CEBA due to a prerequisite to have made a certain amount in 2019. Unfortunately, in 2019, I lost 51% income due to the Ross Street construction. Then in 2020, 80% was lost as a direct result of COVID. My accountant and I are looking for help and any answers on how businesses that are forced to close can qualify for this and other compensation.”
I want to bring this up because through no fault on Craig's part, in 2019 there was construction in the city of St. Thomas and people could not get to Craig's store. My children love the kind of stuff at his store and I was able to go around the back and come in the side door, but a lot of people were not even willing to make the trip. Craig was able to move forward and build his business on Amazon, but he did not qualify for the government's COVID relief programs because he did not meet the income criteria. I have referred him most recently to our Elgin Business Resource Centre in the hope that it can help somehow through regional recovery funds.
I am very thankful to the government for making sure that we do have programs on the ground. Places like the Elgin Business Resource Centre sit down with businesses and consult on the challenges they are having, and it has small a pocket of money for them. I think within five weeks all of the money was spent from this organization and was on the ground helping over 28 businesses, and they are doing very well.
When I look at Dark Matter Toys, I know that it is not just this one business but that this same situation is being replicated across the country. There are people who continue to fall through the gaps. We can talk about needing more money on the ground, but I am not always asking for more money; I am asking for money to be spent wisely. Unfortunately, I have not seen that with this government, and I would say since 2015 we have not seen that.
Under this pandemic spending, we know that we have an incredible debt load that the next generations are going to be taking on. This government needs to be concerned with looking at the Prime Minister's leadership and not continuing to stumble, as we have seen with the vaccine rollout. The government needs to make the economy stronger coming out of this. I am hoping that we can come up with a competent and cohesive plan that will work for all Canadians.