Honourable senators, my question is for Senator Gold, the spokesperson for the government in the Senate.

I would like to chat about a couple of national policies that need adjustment for our region of Canada. The first one is federal government employees continuing to work from home. As you know, in Atlantic Canada we have been very fortunate to have low levels of COVID infection. Provincial governments have arranged in Prince Edward Island for a number of provincial government employees to return to their offices to continue their work. This has a tremendous impact on the business community in Charlottetown, Summerside and other places in Prince Edward Island.

Would the Government of Canada consider instructing the head of the public service to relax the rules on a province-by-province basis depending on the level of COVID in those regions?

Thank you. That’s very helpful. As you know, the bill before us today, Bill C-9, is a tremendous assistance for businesses with rent and wage subsidies. This is also a tremendous assistance for businesses. I hear it all the time in Charlottetown: If you can get people back downtown, having lunch and spending money and so on, it would be helpful. At the same time, of course, safety is a concern.