Late last year, Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk raised a number of concerns about the province’s $10-billion-per-year welfare system. She noted that the province was owed $790 million in overpayments and wasn’t doing much to try to get them back. She also flagged that, rather than addressing fraud tips in the 30 days required by the ministry’s own rules, managers were taking nearly a year on average to investigate. Most appallingly, Lysyk highlighted that managers were sometimes failing to ask the most basic questions about eligibility. Does the recipient live in Canada? Is he or she allowed to live in Canada?
Lysyk has made many detailed recommendations to root out fraud, including better training and more automated flagging of high-risk files. But there’s a lot more the province could do. Managers could have their compensation tied to how much fraud they catch, and the province could also enlist the general public. How about cash rewards for catching cheaters?
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