In a critical report issued on Tuesday, the auditor general revealed that Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) contact centres are consistently failing to promptly answer calls, and when connections are made, agents often provide inaccurate information. Despite the CRA’s commitment to answering 65% of calls within 15 minutes, only 18% were handled within that timeframe in 2024-25, with an even lower percentage in June.
A study conducted by the auditor general’s office involved 167 test calls to the CRA between February and May, revealing an average wait time of nearly 33 minutes to reach an agent. The overall time spent on hold and with agents amounted to approximately 50 minutes on average to receive a response.
Moreover, the CRA’s own data showed a significant increase in the time taken to reach an agent, averaging 31 minutes in the past year, double the previous year’s duration. The deflection of 8.6 million calls last year by CRA call centres, compared to 1.4 million the year before, indicates a rising trend in customers not being able to connect with agents. Consequently, customer complaints about the CRA surged by 145% between 2021-22 and 2024-25.
The auditor general recommended that the CRA develop a more efficient system to manage calls related to issues with their online platform, MyAccount, as many calls pertain to being locked out of the digital system, thus tying up agents unnecessarily.
A significant concern highlighted by the auditor general was the provision of inaccurate information by CRA agents to taxpayers. The assessment of test calls revealed that only 17% of responses to general tax questions were accurate, with slightly better accuracy for queries about benefits and business taxes.
Notably, the CRA’s AI tool, Charlie, was found to provide accurate answers only a third of the time. The lack of effort by the CRA to enhance accuracy was evident by the minimal amount of coaching, feedback, or training provided to agents in 2024-25, averaging less than 30 minutes per agent annually.
Furthermore, the auditor general discovered discrepancies in the value derived from the CRA’s contract with IBM for telephony services, as callers were not receiving real-time updates on their queue position, leading to uncertainty about wait times.
Liberal MP Wayne Long, the CRA’s secretary of state, acknowledged the challenges and outlined the agency’s 100-day service improvement plan aimed at addressing call answering rates. Long emphasized the importance of striving for improvement and accountability within the agency.
In addition to the CRA’s inefficiencies, the auditor general’s performance audits also highlighted issues in military recruitment, early learning and child-care systems, cyber security, and First Nations programs. Notably, challenges in converting applicants to recruits within the Canadian Armed Forces were identified, along with deficiencies in military housing conditions and the government’s progress in addressing long-term water advisories in Indigenous communities.
