Lawsuit settlements cost federal government more than $575M in 2015
原始发布日期： 2015-12-29 发布者：中和字变大 字变小
 ** STOCK ** Silhouette of Parliament hill, peace tower. Photographed from the convention centre on May 28, 2015. (James Park / Ottawa Citizen) James Park / Ottawa CitizenThe payments, which included damages awarded by the courts as well as out-of-court settlements, were for everything from accidents involving government vehicles to abuse claims from indigenous Canadians to the use of excessive force by the RCMP and Correctional Services officers. There were also numerous disputes between the federal government and private companies, and between the government and its own employees. Meanwhile, the government had a mixed record when using the courts to recover millions of dollars lost to tax evaders, fraud and smuggling. The government estimated more than $121 million was lost through such crimes in 2014-15. The figures are contained in the most recent Public Accounts, an annual report tabled in the House of Commons that gives a comprehensive breakdown of all federal government revenues and expenditures in the last fiscal year. All told, the federal government paid more than $547 million in out-of-court settlements last year and only $32 million in actual court-awarded damages. By far the largest group of payments was $377 million to settle more than 3,600 abuse claims filed by aboriginals. These were part of the $1.9 billion in compensation set aside by the previous government for those who were forced to attend a residential school. Among the other notable out-of-court settlements were: The Public Accounts report does not say how many lawsuits actually ended up going to litigation. But of those that did, the government ended up having to pay nearly $33 million in court-awarded damages. Many were less than $10,000, but among the notable payments the government made were: Meanwhile, the report said the Canada Revenue Agency had launched 201 court cases against individuals and companies alleged to have collectively stolen more than $106 million from the government. There was no estimate on how much the agency believed it would actually recover. The agency did report 143 successful convictions for fraud or tax evasion during the year. However, the agency expected to recover only about half of the more than $12.4 million associated with those cases. At the same time, the Canada Border Services Agency reported about $2.6 million in lost revenues due to under-reporting and smuggling at the border, with nearly $1.9 million not expected to be recovered. lberthiaume@ottawacitizen.com Twitter.com/leeberthiaume Calgary Herald |