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Results: 46 - 60 of 1234
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
With respect to the CEWS, there was an audit, or at least a pilot of an audit. We actually had an opposition motion against bringing that forward, because it was quite taxing on our small business owners during the pandemic. However, I saw that quite a few of your projections were reliant on those CEWS pilots coming on for post-validation.
What is the plan now? Will we be going forward with a similar audit that, as you said, had pages and pages and was extremely cumbersome for small business owners during a pandemic? What is the solution, now that it appears you've abandoned that pilot?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2021-06-08 11:47
Madam Chair, I think Ted would be able to provide a better answer, but he may come back to it.
I think the pilot did give us some very useful information. We actually think it was an innovation that we will use to try to get more information to help future audits. I wouldn't say that we've abandoned it; I think we're using the information. It is in our action plan to use that information to inform future audits and where we might focus from a risk-based perspective, so we are far from abandoning it.
To your point on burden, we did try to tailor it to something that a business could do within the context of a pandemic. Probably our initial attempt with some auditors was not as sensitive as it could have been, but we fixed that fairly quickly.
View Greg Fergus Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to follow up on a question Mr. Lawrence asked. I think Mr. Gallivan would be the best person to answer.
Mr. Gallivan, you should know that my question concerns pages 000277 to 000280. I want to give you a heads‑up, so you can prepare.
I, too, would like to thank the CRA and Department of Finance officials for their tremendous work. Their effort should be recognized. The Auditor General pointed that out as well.
Last year, in the midst of a public health emergency, you managed to create two programs from scratch in difficult conditions. Frankly, I tip my hat to you and your colleagues.
Mr. Gallivan, I want to start with page 000277. It states that, 10 months ago, the government was at risk of not recovering $1 billion. In your answer to Mr. Lawrence, you said that was well before CERB had been extended.
Can you give us an update on how much is at risk of default, now that CERB has been extended?
Ted Gallivan
View Ted Gallivan Profile
Ted Gallivan
2021-06-08 11:51
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The question has been asked. I want to point out that I will be talking about risk categories.
Since then, the $20 billion has still not been repaid. The money is taxable, so it comes down to the math.
There are various categories. As I mentioned, a number of people who were paid twice, through their employer and through the program, have set aside money. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have already repaid the money they owed, but we are concerned about low-income individuals; that group was actually the focus of a parliamentary debate. It's an area of major concern. Those who were not eligible for CERB because they had not earned at least $5,000 in employment income will have a very hard time repaying the money they owe.
Right now, we are putting the people who owe money into categories based on their repayment ability and we are coming up with ways to address each of those categories.
As I said, the government is owed $20 billion, and our estimate, based on past experience, is that 5% will never be recovered.
View Greg Fergus Profile
Lib. (QC)
I would think your estimate, which is based on past experience, takes into account the possibility of six-year repayment plans.
Ted Gallivan
View Ted Gallivan Profile
Ted Gallivan
2021-06-08 11:52
Yes, absolutely. We have a variety of payment arrangement options, as indicated in the document you referred to. We work with taxpayers so they can spread the payments out over a number of years. It can take four, five or six years to clear the debt owed to the government.
View Greg Fergus Profile
Lib. (QC)
According to last year's data and given the circumstances, would you say the percentage of debt to be written off rose, fell or stayed the same?
Is it still 5%?
I know it's not an easy question, but I am genuinely curious.
Ted Gallivan
View Ted Gallivan Profile
Ted Gallivan
2021-06-08 11:53
At this point, it would be speculation if I were to answer, but we can look to other debts to get an idea: $1 billion in business debt, $1 billion in personal income tax debt and $1 billion in GST/HST debt. Then we can determine whether recovery is worthwhile.
The opportunity cost comes into play. We will take a look at the emergency programs alongside all the other programs we administer and make choices from there. We determine the opportunity cost on the basis of the resources required, since we already have billions of dollars in accounts receivable annually.
Come the fall, the real challenge for us will be making choices.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you.
I noticed in one of the documents you provided, somewhere between pages 37 and 44, that the validation measures were developed with a view to balancing integrity and timely payments. However, the information on the number of available employees and the percentage of claims submitted was redacted.
Why was that percentage redacted? After all, it it is possible to calculate the number using the information on page 1 of the documents you provided.
Why were the figures related to businesses also redacted? There again, it is possible to calculate them using the information on page 1 or the Auditor General's report.
Maxime Guénette
View Maxime Guénette Profile
Maxime Guénette
2021-06-08 11:55
Madam Chair, I'm not sure whether the member is referring to Department of Finance documents or CRA documents.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
The first document in the electronic binder. I believe it's from the Department of Finance. It's 52 pages long.
I can come back to it afterwards.
View Kelly Block Profile
CPC (SK)
Can any witness identify who would be responsible for the document that Ms. Vignola has highlighted?
Maxime Guénette
View Maxime Guénette Profile
Maxime Guénette
2021-06-08 11:56
Do you mind repeating which page it was?
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
It's somewhere between pages 37 and 44, in the first chunk of documents. Give me a few moments, and I'll tell you the exact page.
Results: 46 - 60 of 1234 | Page: 4 of 83

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