Mr. Chair, I'd like to remind you that I'll be sharing my time with Mrs. Kusie.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, colleagues and Ms. Hogan.
Ms. Hogan, thank you very much for that very well done half-mandate. I wish you all the best in the future and thank you for your service to Canada.
All the Canadians listening to us right now know that they have to pay taxes, and honest Canadians don't have a problem with that. A problem arises only when they're harassed by the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA, or even worse, when the CRA doesn't diligently carry out its core work, which is to properly serve Canadians and give them correct information.
The Auditor General's report today is scathing when it comes to the mediocre service of the CRA. Wait times have doubled over the past year, and the service standard for wait times has been met in only 5% of cases. As for the quality of the information provided, callers receive the wrong information four times out of five. Only 17% of the responses to personal income tax questions were correct.
Auditor General, your report explains how we got to this point. You write that the CRA places greater importance on respect for work schedules and breaks than on the accuracy and completeness of the information provided.
How is it that an organization as important to the country as the Canada Revenue Agency has become so mediocre?