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By Anja Karadeglija The Canadian Press
Posted December 2, 2024 2:43 pm
Updated December 2, 2024 2:51 pm
1 min read
1:56
Businesses feeling the pinch to pay back CEBA loans
The auditor general says the small business loan program the federal government rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t managed in a cost-effective way.
Auditor General Karen Hogan says the Canada Emergency Business Account program wasn’t managed with “due regard for value for money.”
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The program lent 898,000 small businesses $49.1 billion to help cover expenses such as rent and payroll during the pandemic.
The report estimates $3.5 billion of that went to recipients that were ineligible.
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The auditor general says Export Development Canada, which was responsible for the program, acted quickly to get the loans out.
But the report says the Crown corporation relied on sole-source contracts and a single vendor without strong checks and balances.
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