CRA call centre service has hit 'rock bottom', according to federal minister

Despite calling the service provided by Canada Revenue Service call centre agents “completely unacceptable” and hitting “rock bottom,” Wayne Long, secretary of state responsible for the CRA and the country’s financial institutions is reluctant to say whether there will be future cuts at the agency.

Long, like all federal ministers, is under orders by the prime minister to find up to 15 per cent in his department’s daily spending over the next three years, in advance of the Liberals’ first budget, expected in October.

However, Long is reluctant to commit to any cuts. He will only say he is “not going to prejudge the review process,” while also promising CRA service “will not get worse…It can’t get much worse than it is now.”

He emphasized that people “are waiting too long,” but added: “We will get this right.”

The comments were made during an interview with CTV on Monday.

The Union of Taxation Employees , which represents CRA workers, blames the call centre problems on job cuts that have already been made. It says nearly 3,300 call centre employees have lost their jobs since May 2024. According to Treasury Board data, the CRA employed 52,499 people in 2025, compared to 59,155 in 2024.

Consequently, says the union, fewer than five per cent of callers on average reach an agent.

In early September, the CRA got marching orders from National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne to shape up. He instructed the agency to launch a 100-day plan to improve its service and cut the delays many Canadians have been experiencing.

“If this was a call centre selling hotel rooms, (the agency would) be out of business, and heads would roll,” Long told CTV.  

Despite acknowledging Canadian taxpayers’ distress, Long confirmed that the CRA is reversing a plan to end the contracts of 850 employees in call centres. Those contracts have been past next year’s tax-filing deadline he says.

Meanwhile, in addition to “reallocating internal resources” and introducing new “call scheduling tools” to help call centres, the agency was also “deploying targeted teams to improve delivery time in high-demand areas such as T1 adjustments, Disability Tax Credit applications, and Canada Child Benefit claims,” a CRA spokesperson recently told the Ottawa Citizen .

Still, the CRA is cutting in other ways. It is not extending contracts for 250 term employees at tax centres. The CRA has cut back the size of its workforce as programs introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic are phased out. The culmination of the tax centre contracts are part of that readjustment process.

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