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Premier says vast majority of recipients ‘grateful’ for BC Recovery Benefit payment

Premier John Horgan is defending the NDP government’s rollout of the BC Recovery Benefit.

This, despite the fact there are more than 400,000 British Columbians still waiting to be approved.

On top of the delays, many were surprised that they were asked for more personal information, after they had already applied.

The benefit is a one-time, $1,000 direct deposit to families whose annual household income is under $125,000, and $500 for single people making $62,000 a year or less.

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During a media briefing today, Horgan maintained that the province is delivering on its promise of getting this money into the hands of people as quickly as possible

“I came back (to work) in early January to a pile of messages from people around B.C. grateful, that they applied on a Friday and on a Wednesday, there was money in their bank account. That’s not the story for everybody but that’s the story for an overwhelming number of British Columbians.”

He pointed out that 1.4 million British Columbians have been approved for the benefit, and $645 million has “already left the treasury and is in the bank accounts of British Columbians.”

Horgan says the program is open until June “so there’s plenty of time to ensure that if people are being frustrated by the process, that we can work with them and get through that.”

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“Could we have done better? Of course we could, but I’m confident that the vast majority of British Columbians, at least 1.4 million of them, are pretty happy with how the program rolled out.”

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