Jagmeet Singh says it was hypocritical for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a knee during Friday's anti-racism demonstration in Ottawa.
He says while the P-M was doing that -- his government was drafting a bill that would fine or imprison people who made fraudulent claims under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
The N-D-P leader says his party will not support the bill as is.
Singh says the proposed bill would hurt the very people that the CERB was designed to help -- vulnerable people who have faced financial hardship because of COVID-19.
Trudeau says anyone who mistakenly received both the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and the wage subsidy will simply have to pay back the one they shouldn't have been taking.
"We're not looking at punishing people who made honest mistakes, obviously. This is a time for us to pull together as a country."
He says the bill will punish those who wilfully and deliberately defrauded the system.
A draft version of the bill shows new enforcement mechanisms for those who make false or misleading claims, and would deter people from turning down work to continue receiving the CERB.