Mr. Chair, the sector needs a commitment to an extension.
A constituent of mine, Christina Brach, is a shiatsu therapist. She was collecting the Canada emergency recovery benefit, and she was part of the clawback. The government informed her that it wanted its money back. She had to go and remortgage her house. The government then said she would be able to get her money.
In fact, the website states, “Some qualifying self-employed individuals whose net self-employment income was less than $5,000 may have already voluntarily repaid the CERB. The CRA and Service Canada will return any repaid amounts to impacted individuals.” Additional details were to come in the following weeks, but this was February 9.
That was four months ago. She remortgaged her house to pay that back. She stayed at home, took care of her kids, closed her business and did her part in terms of taking on COVID-19. When will the minister fix this and repay Christina, and others like her?