Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 9, 2021 -

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) ensured that Canada Child Benefit recipients were eligible for the benefit and that payments were made in a timely and accurate manner, according to a report by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts that was tabled today by Committee Chair Kelly Block.

In February 2021, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit of the Canada Child Benefit program. According to the audit, although eligibility assessment was effective, there were opportunities for improving program efficiency. For example, payments were sometimes issued based on outdated information.

Also, according to program eligibility conditions, benefit payments are supposed to go to the parent who is the primary caregiver for a child or children, where the parent is not otherwise a shared-custody parent. By law, the primary caregiver is presumed to be the female parent. This concept made it difficult for the CRA to treat all applications equally considering the diversity of families in Canada.

Finally, in May 2020, the government issued a one-time additional payment of up to $300 per child to help families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to 265,000 higher-income families not previously entitled under the Canada Child Benefit received payments totalling almost $88 million.

The Committee made two recommendations for the CRA to improve its program administration and review its procedures and communications to mitigate the confusion and sensitivities caused by the female presumption concept.