Finley says Conservatives have set dollar ‘targets’ for EI fraud but not quotas

OTTAWA – The federal government denies it has given civil servants quotas for catching employment insurance fraud — but now says there are performance objectives in place.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley had flatly denied previous reports that EI investigators have been given monthly dollar quotas.

However government documents obtained by Montreal newspaper Le Devoir show civil servants are expected to find $485,000 each in fraudulent EI claims each year — a total that corresponds to the previously reported $40,000 monthly quota.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says the Conservatives are treating the unemployed like criminals and contrasts their pursuit of EI claimants with the expense scandal swirling around Conservative appointees in the Senate.

Finley told Mulcair that EI investigators do have performance objectives but she says there’s a big difference between targets and quotas.