Finance committee  Some years ago, we implemented a pilot project to help small and medium-sized retailers make the digital shift. It was taken up more widely and supported by the governments of Canada and Quebec. It's a question of helping retailers who know little or nothing about where to start

Finance committee  I don't have specific numbers on the indebtedness of the small and medium-sized businesses that I have in the association, but what I know is that some of them are in pretty bad shape right now. It's going to impair their capacity to rebound after the pandemic, and some are on ho

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. I have no specific data on the reaction of retailers to that program in particular. However, I can tell you that access to capital often depends on the field of expertise of the retailers or the industry of which they are part. Some retailers in some

Finance committee  Currently, our members are telling me that the wage subsidy and rent subsidy programs have been very well received. They have helped them through the many waves of lockdowns we have experienced, especially in the case of small and medium-sized businesses. It's critical to keep e

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. To a degree, the extension is still very well received, because the pandemic is not actually over. Restrictions are still in effect, especially for non-essential businesses. You have to understand that retail is not a uniform industry. The c

Finance committee  We were pleasantly surprised to read that in the April budget. For the sake of transparency, I must say that we had given up believing it. The government and the opposition parties are responsible for the electoral calendar, so I will leave it to the parliamentarians to decide wh

Finance committee  We are seeing it a lot with e-commerce. In stores, people can use both payment methods. Debit card payments should always be preferred, because they are more beneficial for both the consumer and the retailer. However, it is more difficult to pay online with a debit card. Due

Finance committee  In closing, I would just like to say that people are using cash less and less. The same bills end up staying in wallets for a few weeks. As credit cards are being used more and more, it's a good time to regulate everything for everyone's benefit.

Finance committee  The situation is fragile. It depends a lot on the retail sector. Some businesses have done very well. If you go to your local hardware store, you will see that they are doing very well. However, the survival of some fashion retailers, for example, is a little more precarious. S

Finance committee  We have actually been asking the government to reduce these fees to 0.5% for a few years. The European Union has demonstrated in practice that it is possible to do so without automatically destroying the payment system. It is important to understand that, in Canada, debit card

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My name is Jean-Guy Côté, and I am the chief executive officer of the Conseil québécois du commerce de détail (CQCD). First, I would like to thank the members of the committee for inviting me to appear today. This will allow me to present some

Finance committee  Since savings rates are extremely high, we expect to see a fair amount of consumption as businesses reopen. Major forecasters are also expecting strong growth after the removal of restrictions. Some retail sectors are doing very well, such as hardware and renovation. The past fe

Finance committee  It's mostly about securing some income so that conditions can still be provided to employees. Retail employment can be very volatile, especially in stores. A number of industries will need to draw from the same pool of employees during the recovery. The bottom line is that mainta

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Kelly. I have to say that my members mostly want to reopen as soon as possible—that's their main goal—but obviously they don't want to mix that with having some customers getting sick inside their stores. They will follow the rules of the different public health u

Finance committee  The research chair in taxation and public finance at the Université de Sherbrooke conducted research on the impact of applying the GST to various products purchased online from abroad. It was estimated that, for Canada as a whole, the lost revenue for the government in terms of t