“Your debt is due and payable on receipt of this notice.”.This year, 2022, thousands of Canadians have received a “Statement of Accounts” from the Canadian government (Canada Revenue Agency) demanding that they pay up to $2,000..The statement contains very little information about why the money is owing, just that it relates to “Employment Insurance” and “Employment and Social Development Canada.”.What happened is this. When the Canadian government created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the government was eager to “get money into the pockets of Canadians as quickly as possible” (or, more crudely, “shovel money out the door as quickly as possible.”) Those who applied for CERB before June 14, 2020 received an advance payment of $2,000 (equivalent to four weeks of benefits) within a few days of applying. The plan was that these recipients would then receive reduced CERB payments in June, July, and August to claw back the advance. The problem was that if recipients did not collect CERB payments for at least 20 weeks, they would have received more than the $500 a week the plan was intended to give and so they would have to pay some of it back later..For those who have to pay back money, that “later” is apparently this year. The federal government has been quietly demanding the money be paid back, by sending a “statement of accounts” to those who owe the money. There has been no national press conference with the Prime Minister earnestly making the announcement on the front steps of 24 Sussex Drive, just a backgrounder posted on a government website..There was also a news release from Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. The statement said that the government would “work with Canadians to establish flexible repayment schedules if needed” and that “no penalties or interest will be charged.” The statement also affirmed that “Canadians will not be put into financial hardship” by having to repay the money and that the government would “continue to have Canadians’ backs.” That assurance sounds hollow since the government is now insisting that Canadians must pay the money back and is threatening to confiscate tax return money and take other steps — all at a time when Canadians are struggling with rapidly increasing prices for food, shelter, and other necessities. How could these repayment demands not cause financial hardship?.The news release also stated ominously that the government“ has zero tolerance for fraud.”.This phrase shifts the blame for the problem from the government to citizens, suggesting that recipients of the money did something wrong. It is also a little late for the government to be talking tough since in its eagerness to shovel money out the door, the government was not checking very carefully (if at all) who the money was going to. Some prison inmates apparently applied..These quiet announcements on government websites were not widely publicized, and there is no reference to these explanations in the “Statement of Accounts.” There is also no explanatory letter saying why citizens owe the money, just a demand for payment. And the statements offer no advice on how to get further information, whether there is an appeal process, or how to access it. There is a full page of instructions on the back, mostly about how to pay and even a note about how to lodge a complaint if your financial institution has breached your privacy. One note says, “Please notify us immediately of any change of address, telephone number or for payment related inquiries by contacting the number indicated on this statement.” But there is no information on how to inquire about why the money is owed or how to dispute the amount..Part of the problem is that the demands for payment come from the Canada Revenue Agency, but it has no information on why the money is owing. It is just a debt collector. That information has to come from Employment and Social Development Canada. But the demand for payment letter does not say that, nor does it say how to contact Employment and Social Development Canada..Attempts to contact the government to find out why the money is owed are far from simple or straightforward. One has to go to the Service Canada website, fill in a form, and hope a government employee will call back. This could be difficult if the recipient is now working during government office hours. I know of one citizen who was finally able to receive a phone call after multiple attempts over the course of six months. People who want information can also take a day off work and go to a Service Canada office (some are now open after the Covid shutdown), but citizens are only supposed to go to a Service Canada office for help if they have an appointment. To get an appointment, they again have to go through the website..If citizens want to contest the issue, they have to first find out why the government says they owe the money, and then try to find records of exactly what weeks they worked and what weeks they received CERB in the summer of 2020, two years ago. How many Canadians have detailed records going that far back?.And checking is necessary. The government does make mistakes. The government apparently demanded that one man pay back the $2000 even though he never received any money—he started an application but never completed it because he got called back to work..The great problem with all of this is that it was not made clear—certainly not to the people receiving the money—that they would have to pay it back. After all, it was called CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit), not CERL (Canada Emergency Response Loan). Perhaps the government should have called it CRUEL (Canada Relief Underhanded Emergency Loan.).One man caught in this trap complained, “If I knew I would have to pay it back, I would never have applied for the money. I will never accept government money again.”.This seems especially cruel because the recipients never knew they would have to pay the money back. They should have been informed of this in the summer of 2020 when they applied for it. Instead, two years later, when the money has long been spent and Canadians are struggling with rapidly rising food prices, the government is demanding the money back..Who does this hit the hardest? Obviously the working poor, the people the Trudeau government keeps saying it is there to help. The very rich never needed CERB in the first place. Some members of the middle class will also have to repay the money, but they at least might have some resources to be able to pay do so. Those who are now receiving these demand letters didn’t do anything wrong, they applied for CERB in good faith, and they paid income tax on it. But now they are the ones who are suffering the consequences..To sum up, this whole fiasco is appallingly incompetent and counter-productive social policy. When Justin Trudeau assured Canadians, “We have your back,” how were they to know that he was there to stab them in it?
“Your debt is due and payable on receipt of this notice.”.This year, 2022, thousands of Canadians have received a “Statement of Accounts” from the Canadian government (Canada Revenue Agency) demanding that they pay up to $2,000..The statement contains very little information about why the money is owing, just that it relates to “Employment Insurance” and “Employment and Social Development Canada.”.What happened is this. When the Canadian government created the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) in 2020 at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the government was eager to “get money into the pockets of Canadians as quickly as possible” (or, more crudely, “shovel money out the door as quickly as possible.”) Those who applied for CERB before June 14, 2020 received an advance payment of $2,000 (equivalent to four weeks of benefits) within a few days of applying. The plan was that these recipients would then receive reduced CERB payments in June, July, and August to claw back the advance. The problem was that if recipients did not collect CERB payments for at least 20 weeks, they would have received more than the $500 a week the plan was intended to give and so they would have to pay some of it back later..For those who have to pay back money, that “later” is apparently this year. The federal government has been quietly demanding the money be paid back, by sending a “statement of accounts” to those who owe the money. There has been no national press conference with the Prime Minister earnestly making the announcement on the front steps of 24 Sussex Drive, just a backgrounder posted on a government website..There was also a news release from Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion. The statement said that the government would “work with Canadians to establish flexible repayment schedules if needed” and that “no penalties or interest will be charged.” The statement also affirmed that “Canadians will not be put into financial hardship” by having to repay the money and that the government would “continue to have Canadians’ backs.” That assurance sounds hollow since the government is now insisting that Canadians must pay the money back and is threatening to confiscate tax return money and take other steps — all at a time when Canadians are struggling with rapidly increasing prices for food, shelter, and other necessities. How could these repayment demands not cause financial hardship?.The news release also stated ominously that the government“ has zero tolerance for fraud.”.This phrase shifts the blame for the problem from the government to citizens, suggesting that recipients of the money did something wrong. It is also a little late for the government to be talking tough since in its eagerness to shovel money out the door, the government was not checking very carefully (if at all) who the money was going to. Some prison inmates apparently applied..These quiet announcements on government websites were not widely publicized, and there is no reference to these explanations in the “Statement of Accounts.” There is also no explanatory letter saying why citizens owe the money, just a demand for payment. And the statements offer no advice on how to get further information, whether there is an appeal process, or how to access it. There is a full page of instructions on the back, mostly about how to pay and even a note about how to lodge a complaint if your financial institution has breached your privacy. One note says, “Please notify us immediately of any change of address, telephone number or for payment related inquiries by contacting the number indicated on this statement.” But there is no information on how to inquire about why the money is owed or how to dispute the amount..Part of the problem is that the demands for payment come from the Canada Revenue Agency, but it has no information on why the money is owing. It is just a debt collector. That information has to come from Employment and Social Development Canada. But the demand for payment letter does not say that, nor does it say how to contact Employment and Social Development Canada..Attempts to contact the government to find out why the money is owed are far from simple or straightforward. One has to go to the Service Canada website, fill in a form, and hope a government employee will call back. This could be difficult if the recipient is now working during government office hours. I know of one citizen who was finally able to receive a phone call after multiple attempts over the course of six months. People who want information can also take a day off work and go to a Service Canada office (some are now open after the Covid shutdown), but citizens are only supposed to go to a Service Canada office for help if they have an appointment. To get an appointment, they again have to go through the website..If citizens want to contest the issue, they have to first find out why the government says they owe the money, and then try to find records of exactly what weeks they worked and what weeks they received CERB in the summer of 2020, two years ago. How many Canadians have detailed records going that far back?.And checking is necessary. The government does make mistakes. The government apparently demanded that one man pay back the $2000 even though he never received any money—he started an application but never completed it because he got called back to work..The great problem with all of this is that it was not made clear—certainly not to the people receiving the money—that they would have to pay it back. After all, it was called CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit), not CERL (Canada Emergency Response Loan). Perhaps the government should have called it CRUEL (Canada Relief Underhanded Emergency Loan.).One man caught in this trap complained, “If I knew I would have to pay it back, I would never have applied for the money. I will never accept government money again.”.This seems especially cruel because the recipients never knew they would have to pay the money back. They should have been informed of this in the summer of 2020 when they applied for it. Instead, two years later, when the money has long been spent and Canadians are struggling with rapidly rising food prices, the government is demanding the money back..Who does this hit the hardest? Obviously the working poor, the people the Trudeau government keeps saying it is there to help. The very rich never needed CERB in the first place. Some members of the middle class will also have to repay the money, but they at least might have some resources to be able to pay do so. Those who are now receiving these demand letters didn’t do anything wrong, they applied for CERB in good faith, and they paid income tax on it. But now they are the ones who are suffering the consequences..To sum up, this whole fiasco is appallingly incompetent and counter-productive social policy. When Justin Trudeau assured Canadians, “We have your back,” how were they to know that he was there to stab them in it?
