[welfare]

https://torontosun.com/news/national...b7610459e/amp/

A Conservative MP says Canada Revenue Agency has some explaining to do after more than 800,000 ineligible people got Canada emergency response benefit cheques.

CRA’s own records — filed in an inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons — show 823,850 people who didn’t file a tax return in the past year received $2,000 monthly CERB cheques at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $1.7 billion, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“I find it remarkable,” Conservative MP Kelly McCauley said.


“This is a huge amount. People were losing their homes and really needed help, but claims were made by others who were either ineligible or didn’t really need it. I want the government to do a proper, transparent audit of this. We just owe it to taxpayers.”

The federal government approved paying CERB to unemployed tax filers who made at least $5,000 in 2019.

The CRA didn’t explain how non-tax filers could have claimed the benefit.

The CERB program was first budgeted at $24 billion, but by the time it expired Oct. 3, payments exceeded $81 billion.

More than 14,000 people in the top income tax bracket — earning $210,371 or more in 2019 — filed for CERB, saying they were without income.