A recent critical report by the auditor general revealed that Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) contact centres are consistently falling short in answering calls promptly and providing accurate information to customers. Despite CRA’s commitment to answering 65% of calls within 15 minutes, only 18% met this target in 2024-25, dropping even further to under 5% in June.
The auditor general’s office conducted 167 test calls to the CRA and found that the average wait time to reach an agent was nearly 33 minutes, with an overall average of 50 minutes to receive a response. This aligns with the CRA’s data, showing a significant increase in the time taken to reach an agent compared to the previous year.
Moreover, the CRA deflected approximately 8.6 million calls last year, a considerable jump from the 1.4 million calls deflected the year before. Customer complaints about the CRA skyrocketed by 145% between 2021-22 and 2024-25, despite the agency reporting a 77% satisfaction rate from callers.
The auditor general recommended that the CRA develop a more efficient system to handle calls related to issues with their online portal, MyAccount, which often lead to customers being locked out and tying up agents. The report also highlighted the inaccuracy of information provided by CRA agents, with only 17% of non-account-specific tax questions receiving accurate responses.
The auditor general expressed concerns about the lack of accuracy in responses from both human agents and the CRA’s chatbot, Charlie, which only provided correct answers a third of the time. The report noted a minimal effort by the CRA to improve accuracy, with just 2,200 hours dedicated to coaching and training agents in 2024-25.
Furthermore, the auditor general discovered that the CRA was not fully utilizing its contract with IBM for telephony services, leading to inadequate real-time updates for callers on their queue position. Addressing these issues, Liberal MP Wayne Long stated that the CRA has initiated a 100-day service improvement plan to enhance call answering rates.
In addition to the CRA findings, the auditor general’s performance audits also highlighted challenges in military recruiting, early learning and child-care systems, cyber security, and various First Nations programs. Notably, the military struggled to recruit the targeted number of Canadian Armed Forces personnel due to lengthy recruitment periods and housing shortages. Despite recent pay increases and construction efforts, there are still issues to address in military housing and Indigenous Services Canada programs.