We now have an opportunity to implement changes that will reduce the incidence of fraud and punish those who have been taking advantage of a crisis for personal gain
For months, Canadians have heard anecdotal accounts of people collecting Canada Emergency Response Benefits while working: employees banking hours while receiving benefits, nannies paid in cash so they can collect CERB.
At the height of the pandemic, the federal Liberals made the conscious decision to get money out the door as fast as possible, without many checks. There was some logic to this: when so many Canadians are struggling, the last thing we would want is for them to end up hungry and on the streets because of some bureaucratic snafu.
But now that the country is reopening, we have an opportunity to implement changes that will reduce the incidence of fraud and punish those who have been taking advantage of a crisis for personal gain. And it seems there may be many of them. By mid-May, 7.8 million Canadians had received CERB benefits, but only five million had lost their jobs or had their hours cut by more than half. On Thursday, the Canada Revenue Agency’s assistant commissioner in charge of compliance told a Commons committee that the agency has evidence that organized criminals and identity thieves have targeted the program, with some filing hundreds of claims. He pleaded for MPs to give the CRA the power it needs to go after the fraudsters.
Nonsense. All the federal parties support helping Canadians during this time of need. But it is also clear that the current supports are unsustainable. CERB’s budget has already ballooned to $60 billion from $35 billion. A recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that extending the program will cost an additional $57 billion.
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