September 19,2025
RED FM News Desk
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is adding more staff to its contact centres and extending online chat hours as part of a 100-day action plan to improve service and reduce delays, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced on Sept. 3.
The CRA has faced mounting criticism over long wait times, with the union representing employees saying callers can wait up to 3.5 hours, and fewer than five per cent actually reach an agent.
As of Sept. 8, the CRA increased the number of service representatives and plans to continue hiring. It reported that answered calls rose from 37% in late June to 57% in early September, with a goal of reaching 70% by mid-October. Online chat hours will also be extended to 8 a.m.–8 p.m. starting Sept. 29, and new self-service tools will launch Oct. 20 for users locked out of accounts.
The 100-day plan focuses on four areas: boosting call response capacity, expanding digital self-service, addressing root causes of service delays, and accelerating modernization. The CRA is working to cut backlogs in tax adjustments and is piloting a call-scheduling system. It also plans to use advanced tools like generative AI and robotic process automation to streamline services.
The Union of Taxation Employees has urged the federal government to hire more agents, noting over 3,000 CRA jobs have been cut since last fall. However, the CRA recently extended 850 employee contracts until March 31, 2026.
The CRA says it is committed to quickly improving access, reducing delays, and modernizing services to better meet Canadians’ needs.
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