Madam Speaker, I want to reiterate that the government needs to take responsibility for its own error. I have heard from self-employed single mothers and people with disabilities who have home-based businesses and have received these CRA letters. They are stressed out from receiving these letters.
The self-employed people who received the CERB used that money to pay their rent and their bills and put food on the table for their families. The money is spent, and it is not fair to ask people who did their due diligence and applied for the CERB in good faith to pay back the money. Many self-employed Canadians will never be able to repay these large debts to the CRA, no matter how flexible the terms are. The request for repayment is unacceptable. The government made a serious error, and it needs to own its mistake.
Self-employed Canadians need a break during this pandemic; they do not need additional stress. If the government wants to recoup benefits that were abused, it should be going after wealthy Canadians and corporations that lined their pockets with government relief funds.