B.C. sends out $2 million in misdirected dividends.
The B.C. government now admits 18,000 people -- even dead people -- were improperly sent $100 dollar climate dividend cheques.
Only people living in the province on the last day of December 2007 were eligible for the dividend, but Finance Minister Colin Hansen said Friday the list was not quite up to date because it was based on 2006 and 2007 tax returns.
The error works out to a misdirection of $1.8 million tax dollars. But B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen says that number isn't too bad, considering nearly four million cheques were mailed out.
"18,000 is a lot of people but when you think about it it's less than one quarter of one per cent," says Hansen.
CTV journalist Caillin Katnich is one of the people who received a cheque in error. He left B.C. for Saskatchewan more than nine months ago, so he found it puzzling this summer when he received a $100 cheque from the government.
"At first I was surprised because I knew I hadn't lived in BC for about nine months at that point," says Caillin.
The provincially issued climate action cheques were meant to encourage British Columbians to be greener and counter some of the negative financial consequences of the carbon tax, which came into effect July 1.
The NDP calls it a bungled program from a careless government.
"I think it will just add to the unpopularity of the tax and the increasing view that it is unfair, ineffective, vastly unpopular and now completely botched in the execution of the plan," said NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston.
Letters from the Canada Revenue Agency are now being sent asking for the money back. Hansen says he is 100 per cent confident the government will get the money back, but admits the plan is not foolproof.
"There may be some unique cases where it may be more difficult," says Hansen.
No one knows just how much those unique cases will cost taxpayers.
Caillin Katnich says he's not giving the money back now, but expects the taxman to recoup the money from his tax account next year.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty
