Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
The federal government sent more than $9 million worth of COVID-19 disability cheques to estates of which the recipient of the money had died before the pandemic.
New documents tabled in the House of Commons in response to a written question by Conservative MP Jamie Schmale also show that 4,637 people with addresses outside of Canada received the benefit.
In June 2020, Ottawa announced a one-time payment of up to $600 for persons living with a disability, to help offset additional pandemic-related costs. Eligible recipients included Canadians who had a valid 2020 Disability Tax Credit (DTC) certificate and those entitled to the Canada Pension Plan Disability, Quebec Pension Plan Disability, or one of the disability support programs administered by Veterans Affairs Canada.
Recipients weren’t required to apply for this benefit, instead the money flowed through existing programs. As of April 21, more than 1.6 million Canadians have accessed it.
A response by Employment and Social Development Canada notes that while measures were taken to ensure a “detailed review and careful analysis” of data to confirm eligibility, in some cases, information “may not have been up to date because the government did not receive the individual’s updated personal information, or because of late or incomplete tax filing.”
For this reason, 15,409 payments were made to people who were eligible through the DTC alone, the DTC and one of the programs under Veterans Affairs Canada, or solely through the latter but had died prior to the pandemic being declared. These benefits totaled $9,208,500.
The department says they will conduct a fulsome review of the relief distribution to identify payment errors, and that any overpayments will be accrued as “debts owed to the Crown.”
The document states, however, that because the DTC is accessible for the entire calendar year, estates won’t have to pay back the amount regardless of when in 2020 the recipient died.
In March, Canada’s auditor general commended the government’s efforts to get money – specifically the popular Canada Emergency Response Benefit – out the door quickly to Canadians who had been impacted by the pandemic, but cautioned that less rigorous eligibility screening did lead to cases of abuse.
CTVNews.ca reported in April that a Canadian family that’s lived in New Zealand for the past 18 years received the one-time disability payment addressed to their daughter who died in 2009.
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.