Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Dear colleagues, it is a privilege to be here with you today. This is my first appearance before the Standing Committee on Public Affairs.
I would like to thank Ms. Serjak for the exceptional work she's done, and all the Canada Revenue Agency employees serving Canadians.
Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for the invitation.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee today to speak to the situation at the Canada Revenue Agency.
You will remember that on September 2, Secretary of State Wayne Long and I directed the Canada Revenue Agency to immediately implement a 100-day service improvement plan. The goal was clear: restore public trust, strengthen services, improve access and reduce delays that burden taxpayers.
As we've indicated when we first proposed to appear before the committee to discuss these issues, Canadians expect and deserve reliable and timely services from the agency. Despite the dedication of CRA employees, it has become increasingly clear that the agency is currently struggling to meet this standard. It is with this in mind that we asked for improvements, and that I asked the agency's board of directors president to take appropriate action.
While there is still a lot of work to be done—as we must always show humility before Canadians—I am pleased to say today that the 100-day plan, carried out from September 2 to December 11, 2025, has delivered tangible results for those dealing with the agency.
The agency mobilized with exceptional rigour, and I thank the agency for its professionalism. I also thank the agency for its remarkable innovation, collaboration and speed of execution.
The numbers speak for themselves.
First, the agency doubled its capacity to answer calls. To achieve this, it increased the number of contact centre service representatives from 1,500 to 2,750.
Second, it exceeded its target by raising the response rate for unique callers from 35% at the beginning of July to more than 70% at the beginning of September.
Third, the agency accelerated the processing of backlogged files, notably through the automation of its operational processes and the strategic redeployment of its teams. This made it possible to process an additional 115,000 T1 adjustment requests compared to the same period last year.
As you can see, tangible measures were put in place to improve service.
One of the most significant components of the 100-day plan is the accelerated rollout of digital services, because that's the way we can improve services and offer better and more timely services to Canadians. We are moving away from a model where the phone line is the only lifeline to a more secure and 24-7 ecosystem. These services provide taxpayers with a range of modern, secure and accessible tools that promote self-service and free up phone lines for complex cases requiring human expertise, and we're benchmarking with the best practices of other tax agencies around the world.
We get more than 32 million calls per year. I need to pause for a second for those watching at home and members of this committee. That is why I always approach this with humility. Answering 32 million calls a year is a tall order, with an average of 300,000 calls each day during the tax season. I think we all have to say thank you to those on the front line, because they're doing their very best to serve Canadians. Obviously there are system issues, there's some complexity in the tax code and there are some legacy systems we have, and we're trying to tackle all of that at the same time to give them the best possible tools.
I spent half a day in one of the call centres with those people, listening to calls side by side with them, and they're doing their very best. We should, as parliamentarians, be there to support them.
The math is simple. We must promote self-service to keep the lines open for those who truly need human expertise and assistance. Knowing when to call and when to use online tools is therefore essential to improving everyone's experience.
Among the new digital options, the agency now offers Canadians a redesigned phone menu that automatically routes calls to the appropriate experts within the agency. The document verification service, which I think Mr. Stevenson would be familiar with, speeds up account registration by using AI, such as facial recognition, along with strong security measures. There, again, we're benchmarking with the banking industry, for which security is essential. These innovations are expected to significantly reduce the hundreds of thousands of annual calls related to account lockouts.
To further reinforce these efforts, a new self-service credential recovery feature now allows users who have forgotten their sign-in information to regain access to their accounts independently. Also, our priority callback system is something I'm told Canadians really appreciate. Instead of spending time online, they get a callback. That has shown to be a real success.
Between September and December 2025, our priority web-based call service assisted 79,766 Canadians, handling more than 5,000 calls per week. This included a specialized pilot we launched with respect to disability tax credit inquiries, which successfully managed around 4,000 requests, ensuring that taxpayers were contacted within two business days.
The way the agency met the challenge of the 100-day plan underscores an essential truth powered by a technologically enabled workforce. That's what we need to do, and that's why we're trying to give them more tools in their tool boxes to serve Canadians.
Let's be clear: The agency is a world-class tax and benefit administration. It remains committed to providing Canadians with the benefits they are entitled to and making sure that Canada's tax service is strong, modern and obviously responsive to the evolving needs of Canadians.
The improvements I have outlined represent only a portion of the measures the agency implemented under the 100-day plan. Since then, many additional initiatives have been deployed, including those aimed at preparing for the current tax-filing season.
Thank you for inviting me. I will be happy to answer my colleagues' questions.
