Supporting our UTA colleagues at the CRA

Bob Hamilton
Commissioner,
Canada Revenue Agency
555 MacKenzie Avenue, 7th Floor Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
By email: bob.hamilton@canada.ca

February 19, 2021

Dear Mr. Hamilton,

I am writing today regarding the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) recent decision to hire a third-party contractor to answer questions from taxpayers about emergency benefits and their impact on returns in the weeks ahead.

While I agree that various programs introduced to help Canadians during the pandemic may well result in a substantial increase in the number and complexity of questions fielded by the CRA during the upcoming “tax season”, I do not understand why public service professionals have not been asked to perform this work.

Private call centre staff are much likelier to provide incomplete or inaccurate information to taxpayers than CRA personnel. Their training is not of the same calibre and they are not held to the same standard of confidentiality as public service employees. Many Canadians may not realize they are not speaking to a CRA professional and may inadvertently provide confidential information to these private-sector call centre agents. And I don’t have to remind you of the complete fiasco that ensued when hundreds of hastily-prepared call centre agents were hired to provide assistance to federal employees experiencing complex pay problems caused by Phoenix.

The Agency had many options to provide these services internally, including the hiring of Term employees, and I see no good reason why it chose to look to an external provider to do so.

On behalf of the thousands of PIPSC members employed by the CRA, I support the Union of Taxation Employees on this matter and I call upon you to immediately reverse this decision. Canadian taxpayers deserve the best service possible. Contracting out this critical work will once again prove more expensive and less effective than if it were performed by knowledgeable and experienced public service professionals.

Sincerely,

Debi Daviau
President

Published on 1 March 2021

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