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Results: 76 - 90 of 461
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-05-04 11:36
I'll take that again, Madam Chair, but I will ask my colleague, Frank Vermaeten or one of the others, to respond.
We feel quite confident that we have good outreach and education to make people aware of these benefits, the Canada child benefit being one, but it is an ongoing challenge. We try to make sure we're improving the awareness so that people file returns and become eligible for these benefits.
Whether it's in vulnerable communities or what have you, we know there are some people out there who aren't filing to get the benefits. We have an ongoing work program to try to improve our communication and outreach to make sure that we maximize the utilization of these benefits that people are eligible for and should be receiving.
In terms of how many are out there, I'm not sure we would have that figure, but I'll ask Frank if he wants to add anything.
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 11:37
Thank you.
It's difficult to determine exactly how many people are not applying, but we do have—and this is really important—the automated system at birth. When we have newborn children, we work with the hospitals, the people there, to automatically provide us with that information, so we get an extremely high take-up rate for those individuals. More than 97% of children are registered right at birth through that process. We have a very high take-up rate.
Of course, we have recent immigrants, or maybe people who hadn't applied in the past. Those individuals become a more manual process, and you can imagine—
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
I don't want to get too stuck on the process. Through you, Madam Chair, I want to get to the outcomes.
Is it ever the case.... In Hamilton, for instance, we help thousands of people process their taxes through our constituency office in a voluntary tax program. Has there been any analysis or policy discussion around what automatic tax filing for fixed-income people might do in terms of unlocking this?
I can share with you that in Hamilton there's an estimated $30 million a year that goes unclaimed in social service supports, including Ontario Works, ODSP, and a whole host of others.
When I think about programs like GIS, OAS and of course the child tax benefit, I'm wondering if there have been any policy discussions on what automated tax filings for fixed-income folks might look like to help streamline this critical support for people.
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-05-04 11:39
Madam Chair, I'll take a stab at that.
It is an ongoing area that we're looking at. Indeed, in the Speech from the Throne, there was a reference to automated tax filing to make it easier for people to get their benefits.
We have a few mechanisms in place that help on this front. I think you mentioned the community volunteer income tax program, the CVITP, which helps people fill out their tax return, and, if eligible, to receive benefits. We also have File my Return, which is a phone-based system.
We are looking at other options, including automated filing, to see how that could help in this area to make sure people are aware and are filing so that they are eligible for their benefits.
We have a few things in place, but that issue of automated filing is one that we're looking at.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
First off, I would join my colleagues in congratulating you, Mr. Hamilton, and your team, on I would say an A+ report from the Auditor General. Well done.
My questions will be to you, Mr. Hamilton, and maybe some of your team for support.
I am curious. We have the automated benefit applications, which I think I heard someone say catches 97% of newborns. However, we still have 250,000 applications that are either done online or by mail-in applications. I would suspect that it is more expensive for the taxpayer, and obviously more challenging for the parents.
Could you explain why almost half of them are still a manual process, as it were?
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 11:41
Thank you very much for the question.
As I said, with respect to newborns, they are automatically registered. Many of the individuals who are signing up later in the process tend to be recent immigrants, or there may have been a change in the custody situation, or perhaps a death, a divorce or a new marriage, etc.
In that case, there's really no automatic way for us to do this; we need to get information. There are applications, and individuals have various avenues, whether it's an electronic-based avenue that they can use to register or a paper-based one. We need to do that for those who aren't registered at birth.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Following up on that, our newcomers face all sorts of challenges, sometimes in the form of new languages, new cultures and all sorts of new paperwork that they have to get done.
Is there any way that we could tie the system into their immigration filing? I assume that a lot of this information would have to be given at the time of entry into our country. That way we're really making sure we're reaching out our hand to newcomers and not making their lives more difficult.
Would that be possible or not?
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 11:42
What happens now is that the immigrant support groups are really helpful in that regard, helping individuals fill out various forms for all kinds of programs, be they federal or provincial, and certainly there's a lot of attention given to the CCB, given how important it is. Automating that process with respect to information sharing on that is something we could consider. That type of information system is often challenging across departments.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
That's something that I'm a huge proponent of. If we can invest in infrastructure to help automate these things—especially, as I said, for newcomers, with all the struggles they face coming to a new country and a new culture and potentially a new language—let's make it as easy as we can. That would be something that I would put your way.
The other area you touched upon, of what I'll call “manual” applications—although I know some of them are online—is for different custody arrangements. I'm just throwing this idea out here. I'm not saying it's a good idea or a bad idea; I just want to know whether it's possible.
As the definition of family becomes more fluid, even custody arrangements are looked at more fluidly. As opposed to sole custody or no custody, partial custody and those types of arrangements are changing. Would it be possible to have the child benefit be per individual as opposed to per family? What would be some of the downfalls and perhaps some of the positives of this, so we don't have to change this constantly when custody changes, as family breakdown, unfortunately, is more and more common in today's society?
Frank Vermaeten
View Frank Vermaeten Profile
Frank Vermaeten
2021-05-04 11:44
As you are aware, and as has been discussed, we do have the female presumption rule. That is in legislation, so the way the system works right now is that it does go to one individual, but there can be situations in which amounts are split depending on the custody arrangement.
Certainly, that's possible. That's a policy decision that would have to be made by the Department of Finance. It certainly has pros and cons. I'd say generally that the female presumption rule, while there are certainly cases where that is difficult, has a lot of advantages in terms of simplicity and clarity and supporting those individuals who in the majority of cases are the primary caregivers.
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-05-04 11:45
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the witnesses for a very engaging discussion we're having at our committee today.
I'd like to start with Mr. Dompierre.
I noted that paragraph 4.6 of the audit mentions the United Nations sustainability goals. The Canada child benefit program supports the goal of no poverty, which is goal one of the United Nations sustainable development goals. It's the first time I can recall seeing that spelled out in terms of the United Nations goals.
In previous testimonies, we've asked about using the sustainability goals from the United Nations as part of our audit planning process. Is this something new that is appearing in the background? Is this going to be something ongoing that we should look forward to?
Martin Dompierre
View Martin Dompierre Profile
Martin Dompierre
2021-05-04 11:46
Indeed, it will be something that will be coming up more often in our reports. The Auditor General has asked me and our teams, as we plan our audits, to put a lens on the sustainable development goals.
Equivalent as well, I just wanted to add, is a focus on gender-based analysis plus. This is also something that we are asking our teams to look into specifically. Yes, you will be seeing in the future more and more mention of those United Nations goals that Canada has agreed to.
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-05-04 11:46
Thank you. That's great news and great work.
Paragraph 4.7 mentions auditing vulnerable populations and looking into that. This past weekend I was at anti-Black racism summit put on by the Guelph Black Heritage Society. One of the presenters talked about policies being developed for property-owning individuals versus non-property-owning individuals as an example of how systemic racism can leach its way into policies.
How are you looking at getting into more of a vision on vulnerable populations?
I'll start with you, Mr. Dompierre, and then go over to Mr. Hamilton. I'm interested that CRA is actually developing a lot of our social supports. Whether it's the Canada child benefit or the climate action incentive or the GIS, we're reaching into vulnerable populations through CRA, and automatic filings was one of the issues.
How would you try to define the vulnerable people in Canada and work with them?
Martin Dompierre
View Martin Dompierre Profile
Martin Dompierre
2021-05-04 11:47
The first thing we ask the entity is whether they have conducted a GBA+ analysis. Have they looked into those vulnerable populations? Are they considering every potential population in their segment that would be benefiting from the program?
We would start to question the department in that sense. I believe there's an obligation from a program perspective that they conduct a GBA analysis.
Thank you for raising this paragraph. I wanted to jump in earlier. This is also something we had seen in the audit work that we did. We did plan for an audit to be conducted. We are currently in the process of doing that audit. We are in the process of scoping that audit. In the next year we will come back to Parliament and come back to this committee to discuss the results of these outreach activities within the government.
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Lloyd Longfield Profile
2021-05-04 11:48
Thank you.
Sometime we look at micro parts of policies, but we lose sight of the big picture of trying to help vulnerable people. It's tremendous that you are working in that area. I'm looking forward to seeing what that audit comes forward with.
Mr. Hamilton, in terms of the CRA, Mr. Green mentioned the volunteer tax clinics. We have many that we work with through our office as well. I really see them as leading us into supporting vulnerable people, particularly the people we're serving through those tax clinics.
Then there would be others. My name list in Guelph has a 134 homeless people on it. How do we reach those people?
CRA as an agent for social change isn't something we normally think of. Could you maybe comment on that?
Results: 76 - 90 of 461 | Page: 6 of 31

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