Trying to get back almost $2 billion from individuals who wrongly used the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) by quitting their jobs would be too much work for the investigators and cause an “undue burden,” said a federal government memo..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, more than 190,000 claimants quit work to take a “CERB vacation.”.Over 190,000 people stopped working temporarily to enjoy a break using CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit)..“Due to the subjective nature of the criteria, the difficulty of proving eligibility after the fact and undue burden that investigation would create, Service Canada will apply a risk-managed approach to these cases,” the department of Employment wrote in a Feb. 7 memo Briefing Binder. It did not elaborate on how much it intended to recover..Figures show 190,254 people are believed to have quit their jobs to claim $2,000 monthly pandemic relief cheques. Payments to quitters totalled $1.6 billion, said Briefing Binder..In 2020, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act was created by Parliament. Its purpose was to help people who did not have jobs so they would not lose their homes due to eviction or foreclosure. .However, the CERB program cost much more than expected and nobody has fully explained why this happened..“We have had numerous reports from clients and friends where former employees prefer to be on a CERB vacation rather than returning to work,” Kim Moody, CEO of Moodys Tax Law LLP of Calgary, testified at 2020 hearings of the Commons Human Resources committee. .“We are seeing and experiencing this, especially with part-time employees.”.Liberal MP Wayne Long (Saint John-Rothesay, NB) said during committee hearings in 2020 that he was aware of businesses that had trouble keeping their employees because of the CERB payments..“They’ve dealt with some employees saying, ‘Well, I’m still on the CERB and I don’t really want to come back to work right now,’” said Long..The department of Employment later tightened the criteria and said they would get the back money given out to ineligible recipients..“There will be the possibility for the government after the fact, if there is some suspicion an application has been made mistakenly or with intent to defraud the government, we can go back and ask the individual to explain how they were eligible,” Elisha Ram, associate assistant deputy minister, testified at 2020 committee hearings..The government planned to spend $24 billion on the program, but it ended up spending $81.6 billion. Auditors have yet to fully explain why there's such a big difference between the budgeted and actual costs..Briefing Binder confirmed the program paid $6.1 million in benefits to 1,522 prisoners, another $3.3 million to 704 claimants who did not live in Canada, and $2.2 million to 434 children under age 15. All were ineligible under the Act..The program gave money to 391 dead people, which included identity theft. The total amount given to these people was $1.2 million..“As part of the intake control in place for the delivery of benefits, a verification of the individual’s identity through the Social Insurance Register was conducted,” said Briefing Binder. .“Applications were not processed in situations where the applicant’s death was registered.”
