Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 25, 2021 -

To simplify the process and expedite issuing Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments, the federal government focused on post payment controls to validate applicants’ eligibility, according to a report by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts that was tabled today by Committee Chair Kelly Block.

In March 2021, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit to determine whether Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Finance Canada had provided analysis to support the initial design and subsequent adjustments to the CERB. The audit also examined whether ESDC and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had designed mechanisms so that the CERB would support eligible workers who suffered a loss of income for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including limiting abuse of the benefit.

The audit found that ESDC and Finance Canada supported the CERB’s design to deliver support to workers who lost income because of the pandemic. ESDC and the CRA took the approach of relying on personal attestations and automated pre-payment controls so that the CERB would be issued quickly to eligible workers who lost income. The need for post-payment verification increased given this approach.

As part of its report on the audit, the Committee made two recommendations to both organizations to ensure that the necessary verifications and program evaluations are conducted as thoroughly and diligently as possible, given the $74 billion in benefits paid.