OTTAWA — Green Party Leader Annamie Paul held a press conference on February 3, 2021 to address the cruel and unfair clawbacks underway by the CRA of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
“Why must it come to this?” said Annamie Paul, Leader of the Green Party of Canada. “Why must people in Canada who are already struggling – pensioners, the self-employed, and caregivers among them – and who followed the rules, be forced to take their government to court to have it do the right thing? The Prime Minister promised to protect Canadians “whatever it takes, for as long as it takes” and we will hold him to his word,” concluded Ms Paul.
Mme. Paul echoed the Green Party’s months-long plea to the Trudeau Liberals and Minister Qualtrough to compassionately address the situation faced by hundreds of thousands of Canadians who, because of a mistake made by the government, have been asked to repay the Canada Emergency Response Benefit in the middle of the 2nd wave of the pandemic.
The Green Party has been leading the effort the help these Canadians seek remedy – Green MP Paul Manly has a petition in the House calling for the halt to these unfair CERB repayment demands and asking the Government to retroactively allow self-employed Canadians to use their gross pre-tax income before business expenses when determining eligibility.
