The Canadian government is actively developing a comprehensive long-term strategy to tackle issues within the Canada Revenue Agency, as the agency’s 100-day initiative aimed at enhancing its services approaches completion next week. Wayne Long, the secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions, informed the House of Commons public accounts committee that a three-to-five-year plan is in progress for the agency, expressing confidence in the current direction.
Long characterized the 100-day plan, which primarily focused on mitigating call centre delays, as a temporary solution and emphasized the ongoing commitment to enhancing services beyond the imminent conclusion of the initiative. Following a four-month period of contacting the CRA’s call centres this year, the Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office revealed in October that only 17 percent of individual tax inquiries were accurately addressed by staff.
Melanie Serjak, an assistant commissioner at the CRA, highlighted plans to implement more advanced and standardized training programs and incorporate artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy of advice provided by CRA agents to the public. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne had set a 100-day timeframe starting from September 2 for the CRA to alleviate call centre delays, with a deadline of December 11.