Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses, Minister Fortier and all of the departmental officials, for being here. We appreciate your taking the time to answer our questions.
Minister, Conservatives always understood that if Canadians were being asked to stay at home and businesses were being shuttered during the pandemic, financial assistance would be necessary. However, I'm hearing daily from constituents who are waking up only to find out that they are being told they didn't qualify for the CERB payments and they are now being asked to repay those payments.
My question is more toward the Canada wage benefit. The fall 2022 economic statement proposes to provide $4 billion over six years, starting in 2022-23, to automatically issue advance payments of the Canada workers benefit to people who qualified for the benefit in the previous year, starting in July 2023 for the 2023 taxation year.
I have three questions. Did the Canada wage benefit go through the typical Treasury Board process? What has been the cost to Canadian taxpayers for recouping CERB payments that people were ineligible for? Why are you now creating the same conditions with the CWB? Are you fine with potentially writing off $4 billion of taxpayers' money?