Madam Chair, thank you for inviting me to speak to the committee today.
I want to begin by taking a moment to acknowledge the truly remarkable efforts of the Employment and Social Development Canada and Canada Revenue Agency staff in designing and implementing the Canada emergency response benefit, or CERB, in a matter of weeks.
The CERB has helped over eight million workers and their families stay afloat. The quick and decisive action taken to provide income assistance to millions of Canadians affected by the closures and public health restrictions has helped mitigate the worst of the economic impact.
Early on, the two departments created a simple and straightforward application process, where verifications would be done after payment. As benefits were paid out, adjustments were made to support even more Canadians and to support our economic recovery. These adjustments included significant measures to prevent fraud, along with expanding eligibility so that workers could earn up to $1,000 per month and still be eligible for the CERB.
We took an unprecedented approach to provide support quickly in an unparalleled emergency.
On top of having to adapt to their new telework reality, many ESDC and CRA employees were home-schooling their kids, supporting family members and providing care to loved ones who may have been affected by COVID-19. Despite all of this, they worked tirelessly to make sure Canadians would get the support they needed as fast as possible.
I have never been as proud to be a public servant as I was when watching the remarkable efforts of these people during an extraordinary period under compressed timelines. They truly demonstrate what the Canadian public service is all about: service, integrity, stewardship and excellence.
The Auditor General's report acknowledges the work done by Canadian public servants and recognizes this remarkable approach that they undertook.
The report made two recommendations for ESDC, both of which the department welcomes and accepts. The first is to finalize and implement plans for CERB post-payment verification. Throughout the delivery of the CERB, ESDC and CRA were actively detecting, preventing and disrupting fraudulent activity. On our side of the house, 30,000 potential fraudulent applications were prevented, forgoing $42 million in payments that would have otherwise been issued.
We have developed a four-year post-payment verification plan, and initiated it, to ensure that those who received the benefit were eligible. As you may know, in the fall economic statement, both departments were provided with additional resources to support this work. This boost in funding will help us to take action to detect and investigate cases of fraud related to the benefit.
The second recommendation concerns lessons learned from the situation. To that end, we'll conduct a formal assessment of the CERB. This will help the Government of Canada design and implement future emergency support and recovery programs. We'll begin this work together with the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, in summer 2021.
I'd be happy to take your questions.