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Canadians Mistakenly Received $442.6 Million In Double CERB Payments
OTTAWA — More than 221,000 Canadians have mistakenly received double Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments, according to documents tabled in the House of Commons this week.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which jointly administers the benefit with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), said the payments add up to at least $442.6 million.
“Service Canada and the CRA are collaborating to ensure that these situations are reconciled and payments to eligible clients do not exceed the maximum allowable benefit of $12,000 over a 24-week period,” ESDC said in a response to an order paper question from Liberal MP Adam Vaughan.
Watch: ‘Too much CERB, not enough CEWS.’ Story continues below video.
The two departments are collaborating to solve the double-payment problem to ensure people don’t receive more than the $12,0000 maximum over a 24-week period, ESDC said.
“Anyone who does not have an overpayment automatically reconciled through this process will be proactively contacted by letter with details on how to repay the amount owed.”
The federal government introduced the CERB at the onset of the pandemic to strengthen the employment insurance system, which falls under Service Canada’s responsibility.
Ottawa has processed 20.9 million CERB applications as of July 12. According to the government, at least $59.41 billion in CERB benefits have been paid to Canadians.
The unemployment rate rose to arecord 13.7 per cent in May and has since dropped to 12.3 per cent in June.
Sixty-three per cent of all CERB applications have come from residents in Ontario and Quebec.
The taxable benefit provides $500 per week, for a maximum of 24 weeks, to self-employed or employed Canadians who’ve either lost their jobs or have had their income reduced because of the pandemic.
ESDC said 460,000 Canadians have repaid the CRA for CERB for payments as of July 16. The reasons behind repayment range from ineligible applicants or people no longer qualifying...
