Photo: Zoom

Kelowna Chamber of Commerce executive director Dan Rogers (top left), Okanagan School of Business dean William Gillett and Fortier take part in Monday?s webinar.

Concrete answers are few and far between during a pandemic, which is why there weren’t a lot of them during the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce’s monthly webinar on Monday.

Mona Fortier, the federal Associate Minister of Finance and Minister of Middle Class Prosperity, spoke to the chamber audience via Zoom, and it’s clear the government is doing what it can to keep the economy moving. How it will all play out in the long run remains to be seen.

One question for which Fortier did have an answer was about the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. She wants businesses to know that they have to provide proof that their revenue losses were because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We don’t want Canadians to think that this is just not going to be checked,” Fortier said. “We are going to be auditing. We are going to make sure that we follow through on who really needs it, and we will continue to make sure we put those measures in as we move along.”

As for everything else, whether it’s figuring out exactly how much money the government is spending to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, when it release a budget or what it will do if a second wave of illness strikes, it’s up in the air.

“As the current situation becomes more stable, we will update Canadians on the next steps,” Fortier said from her Ottawa home when asked if a budget would be coming anytime soon. “We have been really addressing the current emergency needs, and we will be looking at the next steps hopefully sooner rather than later.”

Chamber members who took part in the Zoom were able to ask questions. Their queries covered the commercial rent program that some landlords are not utilizing, what small businesses should do if employees are enjoying the Canada Emergency Response Benefit instead of returning to work and how will the government ensure that revenue losses are COVID-19 related.

Fortier, who noted $150 billion in aid money has already been shelled out during the pandemic, said the government will continue to monitor all of its pandemic-related efforts in an effort to get them right.