Evidence of meeting #8 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was audit.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you for that.
The Canadian Labour Congress is one of the largest umbrella organizations representing workers in this whole country.
Were you consulted at all in the development of the pandemic income support benefits for workers?
December 13th, 2021 / 1:05 p.m.
President, Canadian Labour Congress
We were not directly consulted. However, there were some discussions that were had with us, some phone calls in terms of “this benefit is going to be coming,” but it wasn't really an opportunity to provide any significant input into how that would be designed.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Ms. Blaney. That's your time.
We're now moving to Mr. MacDonald for the last two minutes.
Liberal
Heath MacDonald Liberal Malpeque, PE
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to go back to post-payment relative to the CRA, and the recommendation that was made by the Auditor General. Basically, I want to see if it coexists with their planned start date of the verification, and I want to ask if it's in January 2022.
Assistant Commissioner, Collections and Verification Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Mr. Chair, I'm not sure who the question is for.
Liberal
Heath MacDonald Liberal Malpeque, PE
Basically, you've indicated that your post-pandemic evaluations will be done in January 2022. Is that correct?
Assistant Commissioner, Collections and Verification Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
What we indicated is that we will begin our post-verification of CERB in January of 2022.
Liberal
Heath MacDonald Liberal Malpeque, PE
Can you quickly elaborate on what your intentions are in doing those checks and verifications?
Assistant Commissioner, Collections and Verification Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Based on the information that we have, we will establish risk profiles and we will audit the transactions that appear to be more risky in terms of eligibility or fraud.
Liberal
Heath MacDonald Liberal Malpeque, PE
In saying that, you've already done some prechecks relative to working with financial institutions, the RCMP, FINTRAC and so forth.
How do those numbers compare with the issues that you may see at the end of the post-transaction evaluations?
Assistant Commissioner, Collections and Verification Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Mr. Chair, it's difficult. On this, we've started to conclude on the number and the relative size of what we would find versus what we've put in place in terms of prevalidation on suspect transactions.
In the report of the Auditor General, in paragraph 6.59, we've added additional measures on suspect transactions as early as May 11, 2020. We've always added....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, Monsieur Lemieux.
Thank you, Mr. MacDonald.
That concludes our meeting number eight. I again would like to thank all our witnesses for coming before us.
Thank you for your answers. On behalf of the committee, the committee members and all of the staff here, thank you for your hard work and public service.
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day, everybody.
I will adjourn this meeting.