Social assistance clawback case not unique

AMinto man being chased down by the provincial government fora $264 social assistance overpayment dating back to 1997 isn't the only one the province is trying to recoup money from more than a decade after the fact.

Linda McCaustlin, of Moncton, says theprovinceis also after her for $684 it claims she owes in motor vehicle fines from 1998 and the federal government is helping with the recovery efforts.

McCaustlin says she didn't have her licence back then and never drove her ex-husband's vehicle.

But last winter, she received a letter from the minister of National Revenue, threatening to withhold the GST payments she gets to supplement her incomeuntil she paid the provincial Department of Public Safety's Motor Vehicle branch.

The letter states: "This is to remind you that Section 134(2) of the Income Tax Act allows the CRA to apply any income tax refund or tax credit you have against certain outstanding federal, provincial, or territorial government debts you have."

'In the beginning, [Premier David] Alward said they wouldn't go after the most 'vulnerable people,' they call them, they would never go after them for stuff like this, and here they are, hitting them.' Linda McCaustlin, anti-poverty activist

"I was shocked when I got it. I didn't even know where to turn,"recalledMcCaustlin, an anti-poverty advocate, who lives on a senior's pension of about $15,000 a year.

"I don't know where I called first, it was just that I was in such a daze about it all, I didn't know where to turn."

"In the beginning, [Premier David]Alward said they wouldn't go after the most 'vulnerable people,' they call them, they would never go after them for stuff like this, and here they are, hitting them."

The provincial government did announceon Nov. 10, 2011it planned to ramp upefforts to collect outstanding debts by expanding the so-called refund set-off program, which allows the Canada Revenue Agency to apply an income tax refund or tax credit against certain Crown debts owed to the provincial government.

The departments involved include social development; public safety; agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries;and justice, according to a news release issued at that time.

The Department of Social Development's decision togo after Ron Powers, of Minto,for 15-year-old bill of $264sparked outrage among poverty advocates, politicians and citizens earlier this week. Two strangershave offered to repaythe provincial government for him.

Dispute ongoing

McCaustlin says she continues to fight her bill.

She asked the provincefor copies of the tickets issued in 1998 and says someone forged her name, spelling it incorrectly, and gave a false address.

Months of exchanged letters followed, along with an investigation by the RCMP and a statement by an officer who pulled the car in question over in 1998.The officer said he recognized McCaustlin from her more recent TV appearances as an activist.

But McCaustlin says she doesn't look the same as she did in 1998. She was more than 100 pounds heavier then and had white hair.

"Stress, just pure stress. It's not knowing how to fight too, that's another stress. Or not knowing what to do, or where to go, to fight it."

Method questioned

A social policyexpert says it's a good idea for the provincial government to try to recover lost revenue, but believes the province may be going about it the wrong way.

UNB Prof. Luc Thriault says the negativereaction to Ron Powers' case would not have been as strong if the province had targetedpeople withsignificant outstanding debts of about $5,000 first, rather than a shotgun approach that includespeople whoowe a couple of hundred dollars from years ago.

Thriault says the government's estimates of $14.5 million in overpayments being outstandingmust also be viewed in perspective. Over 15 years, that's less than half a percentage out of the $230 million in benefits paid out annually, he said.

"So you would have an administrative system that correctly pays 99.6 per cent of the time and makes 0.4 per cent error. That's pretty good."

Meanwhile, Thriault questions whetherthe government has checked files for social assistance clients who were underpaid.

"Did they actually find cases where money was not paid? And are they going to issue a cheque for $200 to somebody who was supposed to receive something that he did not 15 years ago?"