For Immediate Release
25 November, 2022
With relief funds being directly deposited in other provinces like Prince Edward Island, NL NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre, Jim Dinn, is questioning why the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is relying on physical cheques. Calls continue from people scrambling to ensure mailing addresses are up to date, while house-bound seniors have to make a plan to sign cheques over to someone they trust to make the deposit on their behalf.
“If the priority was getting these funds to people efficiently, the logistics should have been worked out with Canada Revenue Agency to have this sent with the GST/HST quarterly payments in October,” said Dinn. “These funds would be in accounts of people registered with CRA, and we could have focused resources to get physical cheques sent to the rest.”
When asked why direct deposit with the CRA was not leveraged, an email from the Department of Finance said each individual would have had to apply individually, adding barriers to cheques being sent out. However, a recent announcement from the Government of Prince Edward Island, who is distributing relief cheques through CRA, indicated no application is needed.
“If these cheques are meant to provide relief, then get them out in the most efficient way possible, don’t add steps,” Dinn said.
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For further information, contact Stephanie Curran, Media Relations Manager, NDP Caucus at 330-0328 (o), or stephaniecurran@gov.nl.ca