10,000 signatures reached
To: CRA Commissioner Bob Hamilton
CRA: End the CERB Clawback!
Canadian Revenue Agency: help Canadians weather the affordability crisis and cancel CERB repayments now!
Why is this important?
The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) is demanding that over 1 million Canadians pay back the emergency benefits they received during the pandemic.
Their timing couldn’t be more out of touch. Canadians are facing an affordability crisis — and with rents, grocery bills and energy costs rising, most of us simply can’t afford a surprise $2,000 expense.
When the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was first issued, millions of people in need of support applied in good faith — not knowing they’d be forced to pay their benefit back.
The CRA is offering to defer payments for those experiencing “financial hardship” — but the definition of financial hardship is vague, and decided on a case-by-case basis. There’s a mountain of red tape to navigate in order to even defer a CERB repayment. [source] It’s a deep injustice for the millions of Canadians who relied on CERB when the pandemic took our livelihoods away.
If you believe that our government should be helping Canadians to weather the affordability crisis — not kicking us while we’re down — sign the petition now.