At least $5.3 billion worth of COVID relief payments were sent out in 2020 to Canadians who did not meet the eligibility criteria to collect them, according to federal records tabled in the House of Commons.
In an Inquiry Of Ministry obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, the Liberal cabinet said it was aware of at least 2.5 million Canadians collecting Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) cheques who did not meet the criteria for doing so. The cheques were worth $2,000 and could be collected monthly.
The House passed the “Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act” in March 2020 shortly after the spread of COVID-19 was declared to be a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. CERB payments outlined in the legislation were meant to give $500 per week, collectible for up to 16 weeks, to workers who lost income either directly or indirectly because of COVID.
‘Absolutely Essential’
The Inquiry Of Ministry also showed that nearly 1.9 million of the total 2.5 million ineligible CERB collectors were already collecting other federal benefits such as Employment Insurance.“One can only imagine what would have taken place if the government did not step up and provide programs such as CERB,” said Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux while speaking in defence of the program in the House on Nov. 29, 2021.
“There is no doubt that when a program is created quickly, there is going to be some abuse of that program,” he said, adding later that CERB was “absolutely essential.”
“If we did not provide that kind of support, what would the social cost of that have been?”
‘The intended total recovery amount cannot be predicted with accuracy at this time,” said Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier in the inquiry.
