Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises  Mr. Speaker, we are listening to small businesses all across the country. As of Friday, and today those numbers would be even higher, almost a quarter of a million business owners and businesses across the country have seen those loans approved. This is real help that will help all of our businesses across the country.

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, those very charities and not-for-profit organizations do such important work for our communities all across the country, and I am very pleased that the wage subsidy will indeed apply to both charities and not-for-profit organizations.

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, during this very important time when all of us are doing extraordinary things to plank the curve and to ensure that those very businesses and Canadians are supported through this period, we are working to make sure that these measures and many of our measures are helping those very Canadians in all our communities.

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, the whole point of the wage subsidy program is to save our businesses and keep their employees employed. We know that businesses are stronger when their employees are together with them and when that team is together. This wage subsidy is going to help these businesses prime for recovery, and we are going to continue to work with all businesses in Canada so they can support their employees through this very difficult period and can be primed for recovery at that time.

COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, No. 2  Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister has said, Canada's small businesses are places that make our communities feel like home. Restaurants and cafes have had to close their doors; tech companies are impacted, and bookshops and clothing stores have had to lay off their staff. Small businesses truly are the heart of our communities, employing 8.3 million hard-working Canadians and accounting for nearly seven out of 10 private sector jobs in the country.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, the supports we have put in place, supports like helping businesses keep their costs low, helping them defer the GST, HST and customs duties, and deferring when they will pay their income taxes, along with what we are debating today, which is the wage subsidy that would help businesses with that very significant expense of paying their employees, are going to help businesses keep their costs low.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hon. member for that suggestion. In fact, just last week I had the opportunity to listen to a number of businesses that are looking at online sales as a new opportunity to grow their business or do business in the time of COVID-19. As I said earlier, we have been listening to businesses and we will continue to listen to businesses.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, we will continue to listen to those businesses, as they are so dynamic in our communities. We are going to ensure that we work hard so that our businesses are supported through this very difficult time.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, businesses across the country have been listened to and we are going to continue to listen to those businesses. We have done a number of things to help our Canadian businesses. We have helped businesses keep their costs low. For businesses like the one the hon. member just talked about, we are helping by deferring the GST, the HST and customs duties payments so that our businesses can weather this difficult time.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, those micro-businesses and family-owned businesses are really important to the communities, as they make communities so dynamic. The various supports we have put in place are intended to help those very businesses. In this very difficult time we are going to continue to work and listen to our businesses and micro-businesses to ensure they are supported through this period.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, the measures we have put forward are to help exactly that entrepreneur, that business, that farmer. Making sure they have the adequate funding through the small business loan is one way they could get that bridge funding to help them through this very difficult period.

COVID-19 Pandemic  Mr. Chair, small businesses, as we all know in this chamber, really do make up the backbone of the Canadian economy. Small and medium-sized businesses make up 99% of all of our businesses in the country. Making sure that we are listening to and helping these businesses through this very difficult period is what we are here in this chamber to do and what we have been doing, such as making sure that they are able to access the $40,000 small business loan interest-free so that they can weather through this difficult period.

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is committed to helping small businesses in digital adaptation, which is essential for small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and compete in an interconnected global economy. Please refer to the ministerial mandate letters for further information: https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters

Questions on the Order Paper  Mr. Speaker, the following reflects a consolidated response approved on behalf of Global Affairs Canada ministers. In response to (a), the Canadian ombudsperson for responsible enterprise, CORE, system for filing complaints is currently in development. It plans to implement phase one by launching a web portal for filing complaints in early May 2020.

Small Business  Mr. Speaker, as this is my first time speaking in the House, I want to thank the people of Markham—Thornhill for their confidence in me to represent them here. Our government is committed to the success of women entrepreneurs and women-led and owned businesses. It is why we invested $2 billion in the first ever women's entrepreneurship strategy.