CUTV spoke with Concordia professor Norma Rantisi about corporations not being held to the same standards as individuals.

The Canada Revenue Agency will not look into the spending of $15 billion in Canada Emergency Wage Subsidies (CEWS) payments given to corporations that may have been ineligible for the funding. At the same time, many Canadians who were ineligible for CERB payments are required to pay the money back.

Out of the total CEWS payments, a possible 14.9% are ineligible. More than 5 million business applicants received CEWS. Out of this number, 185 companies were penalized with “gross negligence penalties.” They were required to only pay back half of the CEWS they were ineligible for. 

In 2020, 68 companies that received more than $1 billion dollars total in CEWS. The same year, they paid more than $5 billion in dividends to company shareholders. 

Rantisi said $15 billion is at least 3-5% of the federal budget, which she describes as a significant amount of the total budget which could be reinvested in other areas. She said the federal government could invest in employment services, for example.

She said we must not lose sight that this is public money, adding that we all paid into our taxes and these contributions are going toward funding corporations. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said, “legally, the wage subsidy can only be used to pay employees” and “it can’t be used for any other purposes,” but restrictions to uphold this never existed, said Rantisi.  

Rantisi said this shows a difficulty for oversight and transparency in how public money is being used. She said in many cases it's beneficial to provide direct support to employees instead of CEWS. 

She said that if the ultimate concern was for the government to help employers stay afloat, why not give money to employees directly? 

CRA media relations officer Hannah Wardell told Local 514 that The CRA will always pursue cases of potential fraud and that wage subsidy applications were subjected to verification before the money was sent. 

Wardell said that audits have taken place and post-payment verification will also be conducted, adding that 200 audits have resulted in approximately $11M in gross negligence penalties.