Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about small businesses and some of the challenges that owners are facing.
Dave Ball, who owns VanIsle Wine and Beer Makers, got a CEBA loan. Five months ago, the government announced the increase to the CEBA and he applied for it. Now, there is a technical issue and he cannot get the increase. Here we are five months later, he cannot get the increase and we hear that there are 60,000 business owners in the same position. We have written to the minister, we cannot get a reply. There is no hotline for Dave to call to get information about his application. In fact, we have been asking the government to increase the CEBA loan from $60,000 to $80,000 because we are in the third wave where many business owners are struggling for their businesses to survive.
Could my colleague share whether he has constituents in the same situation, who have applied for the CEBA loan extension but cannot get an answer as to whether they are going to get it? Does he think that we should increase the CEBA loan for those business owners who need extra help, especially those in hospitality and tourism and those being impacted most greatly by the pandemic?