QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Recovery of Fraudulent COVID-19 Support Payments
December 14, 2021
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, I would like to ask you a question about COVID-related fraud prevention measures taken by the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada and on the implementation of its four-year operational plan for post-payment integrity activities. The Fall Economic Statement 2020 allocated additional funding to increase their capacity to detect, investigate and address cases of fraud and misrepresentation.
In remarks delivered last month, Sarah Paquet, Director and CEO of FINTRAC addressed the issue of suspicious or false applications for COVID programs. Thankfully, Ms. Paquet said that:
Fraud-related activity targeting the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the Canada Emergency Business Account has been low when compared to the many millions of Canadians who received much-needed support through these programs.
That is certainly reassuring.
Can you provide us with an update on the CRA and the ESDC’s post-payment verification work? I understand ESDC’s plan is supposed to be refined on a regular basis as the department gains experience and knowledge from its investigations.
I also note that the CRA said three months ago that it would commence post-compliance work. Has this work started? Are departments streamlining their efforts to get more bang for their buck? Are there any early lessons or findings that can help the departments better distribute future emergency aid?
Thank you for your question, senator. The government, as we know, has delivered on major income support measures that helped buffer the worst economic impacts of this pandemic with unprecedented speed.
With regard to protection against fraud, the CERB had front-end safeguards and back-end verification measures that allowed payments to be made quickly to workers while ensuring that cases of fraud or deliberate misrepresentations were identified. CRA and Service Canada have actively monitored and identified cases of fraud, and the government has announced multi-year funding to increase the capacity to detect, investigate and address cases of deliberate fraud.
As we move ahead in our economic recovery, the government will continue to work on post-payment verification and will be there to support Canadians.
In regard to some of your remaining questions, I will seek details from the government and report back to the chamber.
Thank you for the answer. I’m encouraged to hear that departments are actively working together to address these fraudulent activities related to the pandemic. I do agree, and I’ve said before and have always said, that the government was quick, agile and focused when it delivered its various emergency support programs. However, we all know that there were fraudulent activities, some of which could possibly have been prevented.
I appreciate that you will seek answers to my remaining questions and that it’s an ongoing exercise.
Can you provide us with a written update with the number of cases detected and the breakdown between fraudulent individual claims and business claims? To your knowledge, how much money was wrongfully disbursed and how much has been recouped since? I would appreciate if you could elaborate on that now.
Senator, I can provide you some answers now.
To date, the ESDC’s integrity measures have identified more than 30,000 cases of potential fraud requiring an immediate stoppage in pay and the start of integrity investigations. By successfully stopping these payments, approximately $319 million in potentially erroneous payments were avoided.
With regard to the breakdown in cases, I’ll have to inquire with the government. I’ll add them to my questions and will report back in due course.
