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The mayor vowed to ?get to the bottom? of the auditor general?s report on people with business licences collecting welfare even as city officials said there is no evidence of fraud.
?We can?t have people potentially defrauding the system,? Ford said Monday at a press conference to launch Workforce Development Week. ?They have a business licence and we have to know why they are getting a business licence and what they are doing with that business licence if they are collecting social assistance.
?I, as the mayor, will not tolerate that and we will get to the bottom of it.?
The report, which goes to the audit committee Thursday, found 1,539 people holding business licences from the city ? including 759 cabbies, 104 strippers, 170 holistic practitioners and 32 buskers. The group collected around $20 million in welfare payments while claiming they had zero income between January 2010 and December 2011.
The report makes it clear holding a business licence doesn?t guarantee someone is receiving additional income.
Ford expects to meet with city staff this week to talk about the report.
He acknowledged he was ?suspicious? of those holding business licences and claiming no income.
?I think anybody that reads that is suspicious,? Ford said. ?You can?t accuse anyone yet but if you have a business licence you should be running a business. What do you need social assistance for if you are running a business?
?Social assistance is to help people find a job or to assist them with the money they need until they get through and find a job. If you have a business licence, I?ve got to find out exactly what is going on.?
In the 1,539 cases there was ?no evidence of undeclared income,? said Heather MacVicar, the city?s general manager of Employment and Social Services.
?They had licences and had applied and received social assistance. There is not any evidence that they were not declaring their income,? MacVicar said. ?Having said that, since the time that those cases were on assistance, we?ve put in place additional checks, independent third-party checks, to ensure that we know independently that people have declared all their income.?
MacVicar stressed the city?s employment and social services has been ?very proactive on this.?
?It is something that we are very vigilant about,? she said.
Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/22/ford-wants-answers-on-auditor-generals-report
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