As mentioned, we've been doing this since 2016, so I'll go all the way back to that year. There used to be a series of checks where Service Canada would call our office and request for me to go out to sites across the province, as well as the staff, and to meet with one of their representatives, and they would have one-on-one meetings with me or with the staff. Over time, I would request that I didn't have to go out to 50 different locations during the course of the summer, because it was a little time-consuming and the costs were prohibitive.
The other thing that Service Canada used to do was call our office and ask for copies of pay slips and proof that the recipients of the program were getting paid according to the terms of the contract. This adds a certain amount of extra work for my staff, of course, but I think it's important from a taxpayers' perspective to know that those dollars are being adequately and properly disseminated for the intention of the wage subsidy.
In the last couple of years, my staff are telling me that these visits are not really happening, and there aren't a lot of checks by Service Canada anymore. I have the sneaky suspicion that it's just because, after the pandemic, it takes some time to build up some resources at Service Canada to be able to do that, and it takes a long time for my office to be able to follow through.
That's been our experience, and we'd like to see some measure of increased controls for the program.