The NDP’s Critic for Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, MP Daniel Blaikie said the Justin Trudeau government did the right thing even if it took them this long. “Tuesday’s announcement came much later than it should have. In fact, the Liberal government should never have asked Canadians to pay for their mistakes in the first place. Their unreasonable demand for CERB repayments needlessly jacked up the stress for Canadians in an already stressful time,” Blaikie said.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

OTTAWA – The NDP’s efforts to stop the federal government from enforcing repayment of CERB benefits for eligible self employed has been successful as the government announced Tuesday that they won’t be asking self-employed Canadians to repay the benefits.

The NDP’s Critic for Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, MP Daniel Blaikie said the Justin Trudeau government did the right thing even if it took them this long.

“Tuesday’s announcement came much later than it should have. In fact, the Liberal government should never have asked Canadians to pay for their mistakes in the first place. Their unreasonable demand for CERB repayments needlessly jacked up the stress for Canadians in an already stressful time,” Blaikie said.

“Giving people wrong information and then threatening them with penalties is not how people should be treated by their government in a crisis. For Trudeau’s government to think that Canadians on the financial brink have $14,000 on hand to pay for government incompetence is completely out of touch. We know this put honest Canadians in the position of getting ready to sell the homes, their cars, their tools and other essential items.

“The NDP fought hard to make sure Canadians wouldn’t suffer because of the government’s lack of clarity and we’re glad to see they have acknowledged their mistake. However, they still need to do more. The Liberals should waive repayment for people with low incomes and for youth aging out of care," Blaikie concluded.

The federal government had earlier refused to waive repayments for ineligible CERB recipients who applied for the emergency benefit despite an internal mix-up at the CRA that led to weeks of misinformation.

Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office said last month that the government decided in December that forgiveness for those who didn’t qualify “wasn’t on the table.”

“We haven't changed our mind on that,” the minister’s office said in a statement to CTVNews.ca.

“We have always said that we will look at our options and make a decision once we have all the necessary information.”

In the first few weeks of the CERB rollout, CRA call-centre agents were given wrong instructions for how self-employed Canadians would be assessed for their eligibility. To be eligible, self-employed Canadians had to have received more than $5,000 in income in 2019 or in the previous 12 months before applying.

While eligibility was meant to be based off net income after expenses, CRA agents were provided written instructions that incorrectly stated that gross income, not net, was how someone’s eligibility for CERB would be determined. That information was then passed along to callers seeking clarity.

At the same time, the word “net” didn’t appear on CERB applications or the CRA’s “Who is eligible” page. It wasn’t until sometime after April 21 — more than two weeks after applications opened — that the CRA quietly update a Q&A page to include specific language on net income.

In December, the CRA told CTVNews.ca in a statement that “the Government of Canada acknowledges that communications on this topic were unclear in the first days after the CERB was launched. This includes both the CERB webpages, and the information provided to call centre agents.”

In December, the CRA sent 441,000 “educational” letters warning Canadians who received CERB that they may need to repay the funds by Dec. 31 because the agency was unable to confirm their eligibility.

Those letters were sent for a variety of reasons beyond the net-gross mix-up. It’s unclear how many Canadians applied for CERB based on inaccurate information.

More than 4,200 people had signed a formal petition in January to the House of Commons calling on the federal government to change its stance and retroactively allow applicants who applied for CERB based on their gross income to qualify. The petition has received support from Green Party MP Paul Manly, whose party has called on the government to take a “compassionate approach” to these CERB repayments.

More than 8.9 million Canadians applied for CERB and $81.6 billion was doled out through the program up until September. The government has since rolled out several other aid programs and revamped the employment insurance program to accommodate an estimated 2.1 million people who were receiving CERB.

The NDP had earlier called out the Liberal minority government that Canadians should not be punished for their mistake. Blaikie had urged the government to strongly reconsider forcing Canadians in financial distress to pay back money they received through CERB in good faith and after being told they were eligible.

DESIBUZZCanada With News Files