One Comment About Taxation –We’re Coming Close to the Finish Line! The 85^th Day of the CRA’s “100 Day Plan”

 

Well, it’s been 85 days since one of the most exciting days in Canadian tax history with another 16 days to go until we see the results!! As the Pointer Sisters famously said in their hit song, “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it, I’m about to lose control and I think I like it”.

 

What, you don’t know what I’m talking about? Silly you. As a reminder, on September 2, 2025, Minister Champagne made a bit of a surprise announcement that Canadians deserved better from the Canada Revenue Agency’s call centres. He announced that he had instructed the CRA to come up with a 100-day plan to improve. The 100^th day is December 11, 2025. That’s the day that Canadians are going to finally see, after all these years, a new and improved CRA!

 

Well, hold on a second. Is such excitement warranted? For those of us in the tax business, we’ve been dealing with poor call centre service for decades. The COVID period made it significantly worse. The CRA started hiring tons of new agents, their staff were all working from home (with obvious distractions and non-professionalism on full display), calls were answered on cellular phones (with dropped calls being routine with no callbacks) and no scheduling system. And to top things off, the new hires were so obviously not well trained. Combine all of that with a recent noticeable decline in the ability to connect with a CRA call agent and the frustrations with Canadians and their tax advisors was at a boiling point.

 

On October 21, 2025 – 49 days into the “100-day plan” – the Auditor General of Canada released a report about its findings regarding CRA call centres. The comments were blistering. And thus, we know why the Minister took the unusual step of announcing a 100-day plan. He and the CRA were obviously provided a preliminary copy of the Report and wanted to get ahead of the damaging findings instead of actually being proactive. To do something proactive would mean to recognize and respond to – without a damaging AG report – the problems that Canadians and their tax advisors have been complaining about for decades.

 

Notwithstanding and excitingly, the CRA has been keeping Canadians up-to-date on its 100-day plan with a dedicated website that has been tracking progress on its announced to-dos. Some of the announced improvements are pretty good. For example, the amount of answered calls has increased substantially. There is now a limited ability to schedule callbacks when dealing with certain matters and some improvements to digital offerings.

 

However, it’s obvious there is still a long, long way to go to bring CRA service standards into the current century. For example:

• The CRA states that its goal to answer calls is 70% by mid-November and thus it appears to be happy with this progress since its current rate is now above that. While the CRA may not have the capacity to answer 100% – it states that emphatically on its website – the reality is that setting a goal of anything less than 100% is not acceptable;
• Dealing with systemic and root causes of the problems are ultimately what any organization – especially large ones like the CRA – should strive for. The CRA states on its website that it “…has launched targeted teams to identify and implement key initiatives that improve processing times across programs where Canadians face service delays. These initiatives will improve the overall client experience through streamlined processes and the use of advanced technologies like generative AI and robotic process automation.”

 

Unfortunately, these statements are pretty vague and don’t give me a lot of comfort that we’re going to have an enlightening roadmap of what the systemic and root causes are and what the plan is to fix them. Using AI might sound good and certainly has a future. The reality, however, is that getting comfortable with generative AI models and tools takes time.  Especially when dealing with sensitive information like taxpayer records.

 

So, what’s the common theme with the above concerns? The time to deal with these problems. Again, there is a long way to go to get the CRA up to an acceptable service standard. In other words, 100 days won’t cut it.  It’s good politics though.

 

Can you hear the slow wheeze of air escaping from my Pointer Sisters excitement balloon?

 

Notwithstanding, 100 days is more than enough time to develop a plan. On December 11, rather than seeing CRA triumphantly cheer its progress, I would hope Canadians are provided with a detailed report and plan. Included in that report should be:

 

• A detailed plan of what the “right-size” employee count should be in order to get to a goal of 100% call answering;
• The prohibition of CRA employees working from home to improve efficiencies and reduce distractions;
• A comprehensive plan to better train CRA employees which includes an increase to the current astoundingly low amount – 30 minutes of ongoing training per year for each CRA employee – that was disclosed in the AG Report; and
•  A plan that discloses exactly how generative AI – and other simple technology like the broad use of scheduled call-backs – could help reduce call volumes and improve overall service standards and enhance security.

 

Meaningful improvement in CRA service standards requires more than “exciting” political announcements and optimistic progress dashboards. It demands honesty about root causes, measurable service goals, and leadership willing to confront systemic problems that have frustrated taxpayers and advisors for far too long. The Minister may have tried to inject some Pointer Sisters excitement into this file back in September, but Canadians know better than to confuse choreography with real change.

 

December 11 will show whether a serious plan for improved service standards is finally on the table – or whether Canadians will once again be left echoing a sentiment made famous by Twisted Sister: we’re not gonna take it.

 

One Comment About Leadership – Leadership Lessons from a Timex Wind-Up Watch

 

As a kid, I had a Timex wind-up watch. Remember those classics? My kids have no idea what an old Timex watch was. It wasn’t fancy, but it was dependable – so long as I remembered to wind it. Miss a day, and it stopped cold. It didn’t matter how well it was built or how accurate the mechanics were. Without effort, it was just a lifeless piece of metal strapped to my wrist.

 

Before battery-powered quartz movements revolutionized the industry in the 1970s, every watch required manual winding. For centuries – from early pocket watches to the Timex models of the 1960s and 70s – mechanical timekeeping was the norm. You wound the crown, energized the spring, and the gears did the rest.

 

Leadership works the same way. You can have all the credentials, vision statements, and strategic plans in the world, but if you don’t consistently apply energy – real, intentional effort – things will grind to a halt.

 

Here’s what the old wind-up watch teaches us about leading:

 

• Intentional Energy: Leadership doesn’t run on autopilot. You need to show up and engage. Every day. No exceptions.

• Maintenance Matters: Even the best leaders – like the finest mechanical watches – need periodic tuning. Self-reflection, course correction, and learning are essential to stay on track.

• Presence Over Automation: Battery-operated watches may keep time without attention, but leadership doesn’t work that way. You can’t delegate your presence. You have to be there – mentally and emotionally – to steer the course.

 

Modern battery tech may have replaced the daily winding of wristwatches, but no amount of “battery power” will ever replace the fundamentals of great leadership. You can’t automate grit, presence, consistency, or clarity of purpose.

 

Leadership, like that old Timex, still needs winding.

 

One Comment About Economics – Dr. Jack Mintz’s Prescription For Canada

 

I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend – the eminent Dr. Jack Mintz – in Mexico for the last 5 days. We were both speakers at Knowledge Bureau’s Distinguished Advisor Conference in Puerto Vallarta, MX. Jack did his usual great job of providing an economic analysis of issues relevant to Canada. As most know, Canada’s economy has been struggling mightily for the last decade. The new Liberal leader / PM has not changed that trend and is most certainly not on track to reverse it with one of the most egregious federal budgets in our country’s history. The spending alone will be crippling for our future generations.

 

Jack also had some comments about some of the things that Canada should do. It included the following:

 

• Economic growth in Canada will need to come from the private sector – not the public sector – and should include competitive policies such as:
  • Deregulation
  • Tax reform
  •  Getting government out of the way (similar to the deregulation matter above)
  •  Not ignoring U.S. trade since that still represents 75% our country’s trade and that won’t disappear anytime soon. 
• With respect to tax reform, Jack is a big fan of “big bang” tax reform – both personal and corporate. Overly simplified, Jack is a big proponent of making significant changes, not just incremental, that can incentivize growth.
  • For example, Jack’s “big bang” personal tax reform would involve major reductions in personal taxation rates, simplifying the administration of tax filings (including the introduction of automatic tax filing), reducing the number of personal tax brackets, and a larger personal exemption which could eliminate many tax credits and deductions.
  • On the corporate side, Jack is a proponent of exempting retained earnings from corporate tax rather than providing various incentives. Under Jack’s model – which Estonia has a similar model – the corporation would only pay tax when the retained earnings are directly or indirectly distributed outside of the corporate system. His model also involves details about the types of properties that can be reinvested in without corporate tax. For example, would a reinvestment of current earnings in passive assets – like GICs – be exempt from corporate taxation? The answer would be “no” under Jack’s model.

 

Jack’s presentation was interesting. I’m a fan of his recommendations. Canada would do well to heed his advice.

 

Bonus Comment – Quote From Me – Kim G C Moody – About Leadership Practice

 

“Leadership doesn’t magically recharge – you’re the winding key. Show up daily, or the mechanism will stop.”

 

Leaders are you the “winding key”? And showing up daily??

 

Hope you enjoyed this edition of 1-1-1. If you’re not already part of the In the Mood Network, now’s the time. Please sign-up today.  Whether it’s through consulting, coaching, speaking, or writing, my work is about planting acorns: deliberate, principled actions that challenge the status quo and grow into something far bigger. The goal? Bold reform. Stronger foundations. And a country that values hard work and common sense.