Union says CRA's call centre fixes a good first step, but proof of success will be in tax season

The Canada Revenue Agency has completed its 100-day plan to fix its call centres, but the union that represents CRA employees is pointing out that the progress made was during one of the slowest times of the year for the agency.

“I think the situation is a bit embellished because it’s dead, it’s the slow season,” said Marc Brière, the president of the Union of Taxation Employees.

Brière added that it was a “step in the right direction.”

The 100-day plan was announced by Finance and National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Sept. 2 in an effort to improve services after a backlog at the agency’s tax and call centres.

“The 100-Day Service plan was introduced in response to overwhelming service pressures that failed to live up to Canadians’ expectations,” said a news release about the plan.

The federal government says that wait times at call centres have now decreased, and that phone agents were able to answer 70 per cent of unique calls, up from 35 per cent. The CRA said rehiring 1,250 employees whose contracts were set to expire helped the agency reduce wait times.

“The CRA has increased its capacity to answer calls, enhanced key digital tools, and begun modernizing the systems that support Canadians every day,” Champagne said in the press release. “This is a long-effort, and the CRA remains committed to providing transparent updates as it continues to strengthen its services.”

The CRA is also planning to hire about an additional 1,700 call centre workers for the upcoming tax season. Brière is wary that this is still not enough workers to meet the demand of a busy period for the agency.

“This is exactly what I asked months ago to Minister Champagne, to rehire more, or at least 1,300, the same level that were let go in May 2025, but I also told him that that was not enough,” Brère said.

Brière said the CRA should should also hire more workers for tax centres that are “the ones processing all those files that have the tremendous backlog.”

Brière said that tax centres have lost thousands of term employees since 2024 and are severely understaffed. For example, the Ottawa Citizen previously reported that within days of the beginning of the 100-day plan, around 250 term employees at the CRA’s tax centres were cut.

Brière added that contact centre workers will be given training, “which is a necessity.”

A report released in October by Auditor General Karen Hogan found that CRA the agency’s call centres answered questions about tax or benefits questions were accurately just over 54 per cent of the time. Meanwhile, responses to individual tax questions were accurate only 17 per cent of the time.

In the same report, Hogan found that the CRA should “align” staffing levels to meet the CRA’s service standards at its contact centres.

Now that the CRA’s 100-day plan is complete, the agency claims that a review of 100,000 calls revealed its agents provided accurate information 92 per cent of the time.

The 100 day-plan also saw the implementation of a call back feature, a new system to automatically process tax adjustment requests. The CRA also said it improved its chatbot beta.

The CRA said that it will continue to streamline processes and expand the use of digital services like automation and artificial intelligence.

Brière wants the CRA to do more next tax season to help answer Canadians’ tax questions.

He said that he is calling on the government to re-open counter services where someone can go speak with a CRA agent in-person. Those counters were closed more than a decade ago under then-prime minister Stephen Harper.

Brière said that he has spoken to Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions) Wayne Long about the idea.

Long did not provide comment before deadline.

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