Sometimes it pays to be dead..Blacklock's Reporter says the receiver general last year paid more than $2.2 million in federal pension payments to dead employees..Payments to dormant bank accounts totaled $23.6 million over six years with write-offs as high as 20%..“On overpayments over $5,000 legal proceedings in request of fraud are pursued when applicable,” the receiver general wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons..The number of prosecutions was not disclosed..Cheques to the dead declined sharply from a peak of $7 million in 2017 after staff began crosschecking names with federal death records..“This exchange of information is helpful to discover or confirm unreported deaths,” said the Inquiry..“As a result the values have decreased significantly since 2018, over 50%." .The figures were requested by Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) who earlier uncovered data showing more than $9 million in pandemic relief was paid to dead people through direct deposit..“Apologize to Canadians for this waste of taxpayers’ money,” McCauley earlier told the Commons..“Stand and commit to recovering every penny of these wasted funds.”.The receiver general would not detail how many dead retirees receive federal pension cheques on average, however, staff acknowledged in one case payments totaled more than a third of a million before the error was discovered..“In 2021 there was a single large account written off for $382,000,” said the inquiry..Staff said serious attempts were made to recover all posthumous payments including calls to ex-employees’ bankers and morticians. .“If no executor or contact information is available a request is made to the funeral home for proof of death or contact information,” it said..“If efforts are unsuccessful a request may be sent to a province.”.Federal mistakes with direct deposits have been documented in court proceedings. The Canada Revenue Agency in a 2021 Federal Court case admitted it paid GST credits and Canada Child Benefits into the wrong taxpayer’s account for 13 years..Difficulties with waylaid payments followed a failed 2013 program to abolish all Government of Canada paper cheques in favour of direct deposit. The Department of Public Works calculated it would save the 82¢ cost of cutting a paper cheque plus postage compared to 13¢ to process electronic transactions..The program intended to save $17 million a year instead cost $19 million before it was abandoned as unworkable.
