The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday said it investigated claims made by a caller to a Toronto radio station who boasted employees fraudulently claimed pandemic relief benefits. Misconduct was punishable by firing and a lifetime ban on federal employment, a spokesperson said..“The Agency is aware of the radio call-in show where a caller identifying himself as a Canada Revenue Agency collection agent stated that they claimed the Canada Emergency Response Benefit as a direct response to government policies,” said Sylvie Branch, spokesperson for the Agency. “The CRA investigates substantive leads it receives related to questionable or unethical conduct of employees.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, a caller identifying himself as Jonathan, made the allegations in a February 9 broadcast of The Alex Pierson Show on Radio CFIQ Toronto. “I’m a Canada Revenue Agency collection agent,” he said..The caller said he was among a Facebook group of Agency employees opposed to pandemic mandates who claimed $2,000 monthly relief cheques. “There’s hundreds of us that did this just to kick back at Trudeau,” he said..“How pervasive was this?” asked Alex Pierson. “We had our own Facebook group and we were all on it,” replied the caller. “There were hundreds of us. You know what? We took CERB for the rest of what we could get from it. We know the system, Alex, we know. We don’t give our Social Insurance Number.".Jonathan said they didn't feel any remorse because "the public gets the government they elect, okay? These were policies of the government.”.Spokesperson Branch yesterday said any employee who defrauded the program was in breach of an ethics code. “Serious misconduct could lead to a revocation of previously granted security status,” said Branch. “The revocation of a security status significantly impedes an individual’s ability to ever work for a government department.”.Branch acknowledged an Agency collections officer “would most likely be aware” of the few safeguards built into the program. “The caller claimed to have applied without a Social Insurance Number,” she said. “At no time was it possible to apply for any individual pandemic benefit without providing a Social Insurance Number.”.“Employees were not eligible for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit,” said Branch. “Any employee who may have fraudulently claimed the CERB would have been in violation of the Agency’s Code Of Integrity And Professional Conduct.”.The Agency disclosed February 2 an unspecified number of employees were found to be CERB cheats. “I don’t have the numbers right in front of me,” Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton testified at the Commons public accounts committee. “Not very many, obviously. I don’t believe any of those cases have gone into a criminal investigation.”.“Could you provide this committee with the numbers?” asked Conservative MP John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest), NB, committee chair. “I’m afraid ‘not very many’ is not a sufficient answer.”.“I will endeavour to get you those numbers,” replied Commissioner Hamilton. He gave no deadline.
