Millions in COVID-19 relief cash went to ineligible businesses
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is downplaying $210 million in COVID-19 relief money given to ineligible small businesses.
The province’s auditor general released a report on Wednesday saying that her office also discovered that almost half of the businesses that were eligible received $714 million more in taxpayers money than their reported revenue loss.
Bonnie Lysyk said some recipients reported little to no loss in revenue but got the minimum $10,000 in grants designed to help them get through the pandemic. Lysyk said more than 51,000 businesses received more than $939 million in grants but reported losses of $225 million.
When asked at a news conference in Mississauga on Wednesday why the province is wasting taxpayer’s money, Ford said problems in the grants program were due to the province rushing to get the cash out to help businesses.
“We don’t believe in wasting taxpayers money. We put out $3.3 billion if you put that into perspective. Similar to the federal government, when we’re rushing money out the door to support the small businesses that were in desperate need of it, unfortunately, you’re going to see some fraud,” said Premier Ford. “We don’t take that lightly. We’re always going to continue to look into it to see where we can improve. There were a lot of people that were supported to the tune of $3.3 billion not once but twice. We gave the first grant and then we doubled it up shortly thereafter. I think more people benefited than got hurt.”
However, the Ontario Small Business Support Grant Program started in January 2021, nearly a year after the pandemic began.
Ford said the money will go back into the economy and helped many businesses stay afloat.
Lysyk concluded that, on the whole, ministries did not design effective and efficient systems and procedures to deliver cost-effective programs to eligible recipients only to support Ontario’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More to come.
Read original story from London Ontario – BlackburnNews.com