The roll out of the Province’s Benefit Relief Program has received much criticism but the Finance Minister is defending the process.

Many applicants have been asked for additional information and Selina Robinson says that’s because numbers don’t always match up and need more scrutinizing.

“We are obligated, as government, to make sure that there are checks and balances and I know that filling out additional information creates frustration, I completely understand that,” she said.

“We recognize that when information doesn’t line up exactly as the information we have on file already then we need to do a double check and do a manual process. We’ve brought in additional staff to work over the holidays, well over 300, I think it’s closer to 350 people to process these so we can move you through the system as quickly as we can.”

After spending hours trying to get through, an elderly caller to Radio NL, who identified himself as Don, says the Government can ‘shove’ their $500 but Robinson wants him to keep trying.

“What I can say to Don is please call us. We don’t want Don left out, we want Don to benefit from the Recovery Benefit and so that why we have an additional 350 people that we’ve trained to answer the phones and please Don, give us a call, we have people who will walk you through it,” she said.

“I know it’s so hard because we’re all isolated and that makes it harder, we can’t even have people come over to help us do this. So, that’s why we have additional staff, who I have to say are working through the holidays to help and help British Columbians get the information that we need in order to provide the benefit.”

Robinson says despite the rough start, she wants everybody to get the money they have coming to them.

“I am confident that more British Columbians are going to keep applying. On line is the quickest and most efficient, especially if the numbers all line up and if they don’t then we have additional staff to help people, like your friend Don where being on the computer is a little bit more complicated and we appreciate that so we’ve brought more people on,” she added, noting B.C. has never seen a program like this adding for most, the process is working.

“I know the waiting can be frustrating but rolling out a program of this size is a significant undertaking and the fact that 700,000 British Columbians have already completed and are all ready to see in the bank accounts the benefit appear suggests to us this is the right program at the right time.”

Robinson tweeted on Wednesday there have been over half a million applications for the benefit processed totalling almost 800,000 British Columbians.

“We’ve said you can apply for this right through to June 30, recognizing that some people may have not, for example, filed their income tax for 2019 and now are going to do that,” she said.

If you need any information on the Benefit Relief Program, the toll free number to call is 1-833-882-0020.