COVID-19 benefits helped economy rebound, but post-payment verification lacking: AG

Canada's auditor general says COVID-19 benefits were delivered quickly and helped mitigate economic suffering, however, the federal government hasn’t done enough to recover overpayments.

Karen Hogan says the programs delivered relief to workers and employers and helped the economy rebound.

At the same time, the report says the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada have not followed up by verifying payments.

Hogan estimates 4.6 billion dollars was paid to people who were not eligible, while another 27.4 billion dollars in payments to people and businesses should be further investigated.

Auditor general says the government did well when procuring enough vaccines for Canadians at a fast pace, but it seems they overdid it.

Karen Hogan says the federal government has an oversupply of COVID-19 vaccines and most of them are likely to expire and go to waste at the end of the year.

The auditor gave the Public Health Agency of Canada and Procurement Canada a thumbs up when it came to quickly getting enough doses into the country to meet vaccination goals, but said the government did a much poorer job of managing that supply.