Cariboo-Prince George MP says there is widespread COVID-19 fraud

-Files from George Henderson, My Cariboo Now

Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty says he learned today (May 12) about a large number of fraudulent COVID-19 claims that have been made.

“That’s a lot of money and that is a lot of taxpayers’ money, so it will be on the government to figure out how they’re going to recoup that, and what measures they’re going to take against those that posted the fraudulent claims.”

Doherty says there will always be people who take advantage of the system.

“It speaks to the desperation of some to be able to make sure that they’re not falling on financial hardship. Again, when you are simply asking for somebody to just click a button saying yes, I attest to this, there are always going to be people that take advantage of it.”

“Not only do they have health concerns but their financial concerns. 47 percent of the businesses that we know of are not eligible for any form of emergency funding. We meet almost daily with other elected officials. We have very real concerns.”

According to Doherty, this has probably been his most stressful time as an MP.

“You just feel helpless, you want to be able to help everyone. There are so many people that are falling through the cracks and you know, while parliament is not sitting, we are doing our very best to work collaboratively across party lines to try and share the information that we receive on a daily basis.”

The hope, says Doherty, is the government revises the measures that they’re putting out, so that they can get help for constituents that are desperate for it.