Canada’s auditor general says that while the federal government effectively delivered emergency COVID-19 benefits during the pandemic, deciding to not front-end verification resulted in $4.6 billion in overpayments to ineligible individuals.
After sending out an estimated $211 billion in COVID-19 aid, a performance audit tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday found that the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada are “falling short” when it comes to following through on belatedly verifying recipients’ eligibility.
