I thank my colleague for his important question and congratulate him for asking it in French.
Since we've been in power, I've observed the legacy the Conservatives left to the agency: it was really in poor shape as a result of their decisions. According to the report published by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada that was forwarded to us last week, the thoughtless cuts suffered by the agency during the Harper era had devastating consequences. The report clearly states:
The single most destructive event occurred as a result of the 2012 budget when, in one fell swoop, $250 million and 1,200 jobs were cut from CRA’s budget. All told, successive austerity initiatives resulted in almost $900 million in projected cuts and the scheduled elimination of almost 3,000 jobs.
As you'll understand, those deep cuts undermined services and investment in technologies.
When we came to power, my mandate letter was very clear: the CRA had to serve its clientele. That was really the thrust of my mandate letter. We therefore invested in clientele services in addition to allocating historic budgets to combating tax evasion. On my watch, we've appointed the first chief service and data officer, who really puts the clientele at the centre of our decision-making process.
We've worked hard for three years to change the agency's culture. The work has begun. There are 40,000 employees at the agency. It's a big ship, and it's changing course. I very much hope that my legacy will be improved services and that the culture change we've made is permanent.