10/4/2020 Canadians have returned 830,000 pandemic benefit payments | CBC News

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Canadians have returned 830,000 pandemic benefit payments

All the reimbursements were voluntary — but CRA has received 20,000 tips on suspected
cheats

Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Millions of Canadians thrown out of work due to COVID-19-related closures received the Canada emergency
response benefit (CERB). More than 830,000 repayments have been made by Canadians who got money they
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weren't eligible to receive. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
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10/4/2020 Canadians have returned 830,000 pandemic benefit payments | CBC News

Canadians have made more than 830,000 repayments of COVID-19 emergency aid benefits to
which they were not entitled – a statistic some say reflects mass confusion over fast-tracked
federal programs.

The figures provided to CBC News by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) include repayments
from recipients of the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB) and Canada emergency
student benefit (CESB).

CRA said all of the repayments were voluntary.

"There are various reasons why voluntary repayments have been made: if applicants applied in
error for a CERB payment from both Service Canada and the CRA for the same period, if an
applicant later realized that they were not eligible for the benefit, or if an applicant returned to
work earlier than expected," said CRA spokesperson Christopher Doody in an email.

Suspicious activity found on 48,000 CRA accounts after cyberattacks: treasury board

Confusion and anxiety reign for Canadians dependent on CERB as pandemic

program winds down

Conservative MP and national revenue critic Philip Lawrence said he blames the high number
of repayments on the federal government failing to explain the benefit programs to Canadians.

"During the pandemic, the Liberals continuously sent mixed messages to Canadians who were
applying for emergency benefits. This caused confusion for many Canadians who were unclear
if they were eligible for the benefits or not," Lawrence said.

"It was important for the Trudeau government to get the communication of these benefits
right. Unfortunately, they failed to do so and left Canadians behind."

CRA said it could not cite a dollar sum for the repayments because the money is retained in a
general account, along with other unrelated payments.

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Toronto-based Labour lawyer Lluc Cerda called the number of repayments "huge" — and also
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blamed a lack of clarity on the federal government's part when it launched these benefits in the

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10/4/2020 Canadians have returned 830,000 pandemic benefit payments | CBC News

chaotic early days of the pandemic.

He said people often couldn't get through to busy CRA or Service Canada call centre agents
— and when they did reach an agent, they were sometimes given contradictory information.

"I think with the way the plan was rushed into place – and I mean, the times called for it –
 there's definitely a lot of confusion and I think that's a large part of why people are paying it
back," Cerda said.

Widespread uncertainty also may have led some people to apply for benefits, then "park" the
money until tax time against the possibility that it would have to be repaid, he said. Cerda
added that the uncertainty may have deterred some people who were actually eligible for
benefits like CERB from even applying.

20,000 tips on suspected abuse

CRA also told CBC News it has received more than 20,000 confidential tips about suspected
cheating related to COVID-19 emergency aid programs.

All anonymous tips are reviewed for evidence of fraud.

In June, the Liberal government proposed legislation that would have imposed fines or even jail
time on people who deliberately lied on CERB applications. It backtracked after a public and
political outcry.

The CERB benefit is over — here's what you need to know now

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau justified the move as a way to ensure integrity of the program,
saying the government would crack down on the small minority of "deliberate fraudsters" but
was not looking to penalize anyone who collected money unintentionally.

"We're not looking to punish people who made honest mistakes," he said.
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controls to weed out fraudulent claims and maintain an incentive for people to return to work
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10/4/2020 Canadians have returned 830,000 pandemic benefit payments | CBC News

CRA said it will take steps to verify that claimants were eligible to receive payments. The agency
keeps records showing who received the benefits and for how long; those records will be cross-
checked with tax slips from employers and other relevant information to validate eligibility at
tax filing time.

In cases where recipients are found to be ineligible, they will be contacted to make repayment
arrangements, CRA said.

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