One thing we looked at in the specific COVID benefits program was whether these programs helped meet some of the objectives—one of which was to get money out to individuals and businesses quickly—whether efforts were made to mitigate poverty and income inequalities, and whether the economy was able to rebound.
What we found was that the people most impacted by the pandemic received support, whether they were individuals or businesses. We looked at information from Statistics Canada around poverty levels. Statistics Canada indicated that poverty would have increased by five points over the 6.4% that it was at in 2020 if these income supports had not been there.
We also looked at whether those in the lowest-income quintiles across the country received support to replace their income. We found that they did. In fact, some individuals received more than the income they would have earned in the prior year. We did, however, notice that the government tried to make adjustments to deal with that disincentive to return to work.
We also looked at the rebound of the economy and whether or not economic activity had returned to where it had been prepandemic. We found it had done that by November 2021.
All indications point to the fact that these supports met those objectives. However, the early decision resulted in some inefficiencies, and now it's time to do the hard work to identify payments made to ineligible individuals and businesses.