Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) did not do cursory checks on claims requesting wage subsidies under a pandemic relief program using the information it already had before paying out $100.6 billion to businesses, including those in tax default, according to Auditor General Karen Hogan.
“An example we saw was in the Emergency Wage Subsidy program,” Hogan testified before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on Sept. 4, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. “The Canada Revenue Agency had information where they could have vetted the eligibility of businesses.”
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program was first announced by the federal government on March 27, 2020, as a measure to provide small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic a 75 percent wage subsidy for up to 12 weeks, retroactive to March 15, 2020….