CRA faces mounting criticism as bureaucracy costs soar
The federal government is under renewed fire over the size and performance of Canada’s bureaucracy, as frustrations grow with delays at the Canada Revenue Agency and new data points to soaring costs.
The federal government is under renewed fire over the size and performance of Canada’s bureaucracy, as frustrations grow with delays at the Canada Revenue Agency and new data points to soaring personnel costs.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told MPs this week that call centre wait times and service delays at the CRA are “unacceptable.”
In a letter to the House finance committee, Champagne said he has directed the agency to implement a 100-day action plan to reallocate staff, expand digital services and pilot a new call-scheduling system.
“Canadians deserve reliable service, and the current difficulties at Canada Revenue Agency call centres are unacceptable,” Champagne said in a statement posted to X.
The announcement comes as the Parliamentary Budget Officer projects that federal personnel costs, which cover salaries, pensions and benefits, have risen from $40.2 billion in 2016-17 to $71.1 billion in 2024-25.
The PBO says those costs are on track to climb to $76.2 billion by 2029-30, adding $8.5 billion to the deficit.
Since 2016, the Liberal government has added about 99,000 bureaucrats, bringing the projected federal workforce to nearly 442,000 by 2030.
Average compensation per employee is expected to exceed $172,000 by 2030.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, accused the government of bloating the civil service without improving results.
“The CRA is one of the most bloated, incompetent and infuriating government departments,” Terrazzano wrote on X.
“The CRA added the second greatest number of employees over the decade, 13,000 extra bureaucrats.”
A Leger poll commissioned by the CTF earlier this year found that half of Canadians believe federal services have worsened since 2016 despite the growth in the bureaucracy, and a majority want Ottawa to cut the size and cost of government.
 | A guest post by
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A long accepted principle if one is a bureaucrat.
You have one mission....
To GROW your bureaucracy.
The CRA is no exception except they have a lot more power to "punish".
What's champagne complaining about. The cra people are just following in the lieberal foot steps. You know, monkey see monkey do kind of thing. Don't accomplish anything and spend as much as possible, for it's not our money we spend. It appears that maybe this bureaucracy is crumbling.