Trudeau government finally admits CERB fraud claims are a 'problem'

Trudeau's Finance Minister Bill Morneau has admitted that fraud is a problem with the government's CERB program after a report revealed that some 200,000 applications have been noted as potentially fraudulent.

Morneau told Commons finance committee that "it’s not acceptable ... "we are going to come back and we’re going to have to deal with that, and it will be dealt with," according to Blacklock's Reporter.

"I would encourage people to be fair and honest," said Trudeau's top minister.  

Over the past two days, Morneau has had to suffer through the scorn of the shadow finance minister Pierre Poilievre after the Trudeau government directed civil servants to ignore CERB applications from possible swindlers.

Morneau, it seemed, failed to provide Poilievre with any answers—choosing instead to regurgitate awkward talking points.

One day later, Morneau was back in Poilievre's sights after he failed to answer questions regarding whether Canada would lose its AAA debt rating.

The cost of Canada's response to coronavirus has surpassed its estimated cost of $24 billion, increasing to $35.5 billion over the last few months. As well as this, $7.8 million Canadians now find themselves unemployed.

Speaking to disgruntled Conservative MPs Morneau said, "let me just be clear on behalf of the government. The fact that there are some people who are committing fraud or that there are accidents is a problem."

"We’re going to have to come back to those problems. For those people who are fraudulent, it’s not acceptable."