The federal government has reclaimed over $2 billion in Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments paid out during the pandemic to ineligible recipients due to inadequate verification methods, according to the Department of Employment.
The department said in a recent briefing note obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter that over 1.1 million Canadians had fully repaid their CERB debts as of this past May, with all repayments totalling over $2.1 billion.
“A balance of $1 billion remains unpaid,” said the note, titled “Canadians Waiting To Have Their CERB Eligibility Status Reviewed May Still Lose Money To Clawbacks.”
The department said the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is responsible for collecting these debts—although CRA Commissioner Bob Hamilton previously said that verifying the billions of dollars in COVID wage subsidy claims paid out to potentially ineligible recipients “wouldn’t be worth the effort.”…