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Introductory

Mission

To administer tax, benefits, and related programs and ensure compliance on behalf of governments across Canada, thereby contributing to the ongoing economic and social well-being of Canadians.

Vision

The CRA is the model for trusted tax and benefit administration, providing unparalleled service and value to its clients, and offering its employees outstanding career opportunities.

Values

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect
• Co-operation

Branding Promise

Contributing to the well-being of Canadians and the efficiency of government by delivering world-class tax and benefit administration that’s responsive, effective, and trusted.

Section I: Departmental Overview

Message from the Minister

Each year the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administers billions of dollars in tax revenue and distributes benefit and credit payments to millions of Canadians. The CRA plays a vital role in the protection of Canada’s revenue base, the source of funding for government programs and services to Canadians. As such, the confidence of Canadians in the CRA’s integrity is essential to its success in administering taxes and benefit programs on behalf of governments across Canada.

To maintain the high level of confidence that Canadians have in the CRA, taxpayers must be treated fairly and consistently. For this reason, our government has introduced the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, introduced a service complaints process, and is establishing Canada’s first Taxpayers’ Ombudsman to respond to the service concerns of Canadians. These government initiatives and the CRA’s supportive response to them are reflected in this Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009.

The CRA also continues its tradition of implementing new tax measures in a professional and timely manner. This report sets out the work, in accordance with the agreement reached by our government and the Province of Ontario, that will result in the CRA completing its transition to full harmonization and single administration of corporate taxes for the province of Ontario by April 2009. This initiative will reduce the administrative burden for approximately 40% of Canadian businesses. The CRA continues its initiative to reduce the compliance burden of small businesses and the majority of our projects under this initiative are now underway.

The CRA’s dedication to service, effective enforcement, and accountability continue to be well-demonstrated in this report. The Agency’s commitment to monitoring and improving on its Service Standards provides assurance that Canadians can continue to have confidence in the CRA as a fair and accountable administrator. Consequently, I am pleased to submit the CRA’s Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009 to the Treasury Board of Canada for approval.

 

The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, P.C., M.P.
Minister of National Revenue

Foreword by the Chair

Each year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) produces a Report on Plans and Priorities outlining the objectives, strategies, expected results, and financial projections over the next three years. The Board of Management oversees the development of this report and monitors progress against its implementation.

The “Agency Governance and the Board of Management” discussion of this report describes the Board’s priorities for the planning period, by aligning them with the Board’s statutory oversight responsibilities as set out in the Canada Revenue Agency Act. This alignment will ensure that the Board can better assess the management results achieved in the areas of its responsibilities.

The year 2008 will mark the eighth year since Revenue Canada became the Canada Revenue Agency. Within those eight years, the Agency’s governance practices have matured as it has more fully leveraged its unique governance model to strengthen its performance. The CRA’s governance model and processes are now increasingly recognized as best practices, and are being adopted by other organizations seeking to strengthen their governance.

The CRA is pursuing a vision of establishing itself as the model for trusted tax and benefit administration, providing unparalleled service and value to its clients and offering its employees outstanding career opportunities. The Board of Management takes great pride in being part of the dedicated group of people committed to that goal and in recommending the Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009 to the Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Revenue.

 

Connie I. Roveto, ICD.D
Chair, Board of Management

Management Representation

I submit for tabling in Parliament the Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009 for the Canada Revenue Agency.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide to the Preparation of Part III of the 2008-09 Estimates: Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat guidance;
• It is based on the Agency’s strategic outcomes and program activities that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced, and reliable information;
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
• It reports finances based on approved, planned spending numbers from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

 

William V. Baker
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer
Canada Revenue Agency

Canada Revenue Agency Program Activity Architecture

¹ Corporate Services (Program Activity 7) planned spending has been attributed to the 6 PA under the two strategic outcomes as follows: Taxpayer and Business Assistance, 9.75%; Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing, 23.83%; Accounts Receivable and Returns Compliance 20.74%; Reporting Compliance, 36.99%; Appeals, 3.69% and Benefit Programs, 5%.

² The Planned Spending amounts shown in this table are net of Revenues Credited to the Vote and include the attribution to each program activity of the adjustments shown in Table 2 in Section III.

³ Figures may not agree due to rounding.

Executive Summary

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has established a reputation for achieving its objectives. The Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009 outlines the strategies to build on this strong performance, while continuing to direct the CRA along the path set out for it by Parliament in the Canada Revenue Agency Act.

Pursuant to its mandate, the CRA is governed by two strategic outcomes:

• Taxpayers meet their obligations and Canada’s revenue base is protected; and
• Eligible families and individuals receive timely and correct benefit payments.

Over the planning period, we will focus on our strategic themes of excellence in program delivery and a workplace committed to excellence.

Tax Services and Benefit Programs

It is our view that, if we make it easier for taxpayers to deal with the CRA, they are more likely to comply with Canada’s tax laws.

Our focus on excellence in program delivery is the means by which we will achieve our tax and benefits strategic outcomes. This entails:

• continuing to enhance electronic service offerings;
• harmonizing the administration of Ontario corporate income tax;
• reducing non-compliance in identified sectors;
• continually assessing our compliance strategies;
• managing the level of tax debt; and
• enhancing relationships with others, including our international partners.

Human Resources

Our commitment to excellence in program delivery can only be achieved within a workplace culture that is committed to excellence. Building a modern, progressive human resources regime has been key to our success as an agency. Over the planning period we will focus on:

• developing and implementing a human resources plan that is fully integrated with business planning;
• recruiting strategically;
• completing implementation of competency-based human resources management principles; and
• finalizing our new human resources service delivery model.

Conclusion

Canadians have the right to expect a high degree of integrity in the administration of government tax policies and benefit programs. They want a system that is fair and responsive to their needs, that encourages all taxpayers to respect their obligations and that ensures benefit recipients obtain their entitlements in a timely and accurate manner. This report sets out the strategies to further strengthen the Canada Revenue Agency’s capacity to achieve these goals. We are investing in our infrastructure to enhance our efficiency and reduce the costs of governments for Canadians; we are modernizing our service delivery to take advantage of emerging technology; we are actively identifying compliance risks and implementing strategies to address these risks, and we are continuing to develop a knowledgeable, professional and values-driven workforce.

We are confident that the CRA will continue to meet its challenges, delivering concrete results for Canadians and providing clear and accurate information on its performance. This supports our commitment to Canadians for transparency, accountability and service that is centred on taxpayers and benefit recipients.

Canada Revenue Agency Plans and Priorities

Our Operating Environment

As part of our strategic planning process, we conduct environmental scans regularly to better understand the external environment and existing interconnections and interdependencies. We also conduct risk assessments to assess and address threats and opportunities that may impede or enhance our ability to achieve our strategic outcomes. Our Board of Management adds a broad public- and private-sector perspective to this process.

Government Environment

The October 2007 Speech from the Throne identified effective economic leadership as a key priority for the Government of Canada, to be achieved largely through fiscal policy, tax reduction, and a review of the tax structure. Also, in 2007, the Federal Government committed, in both the Federal Budget and the Science and Technology Strategy, to improve the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive program, including its administration.

In implementing the new Expenditure Management System through the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), the federal government is conducting strategic reviews of all departments and agencies on a four-year cycle. TBS will also introduce a Service Policy Framework that sets out desired outcomes and key principles related to quality internal and external services. In both cases, the CRA will be a key participant.

Renewal is a major internal priority of the Public Service. An advisory committee of former senior officials has been struck to advise the Clerk of the Privy Council on public service renewal through an array of initiatives leading to excellence, innovation, leadership at all levels, and the branding of the Public Service of Canada as a career of choice. Commensurate with its size and impact, the CRA will play a significant role in this renewal effort.

The Economy

The Canadian economy is fundamentally strong and has enjoyed a sustained period of economic growth. Unemployment rates are low and household net worth and corporate profits are strong. While there are signs that global economic growth may slow, Canada will continue to be a strong economic performer. However, factors such as a weaker-than-expected U.S. economy; the market and economic adjustment to a higher Canadian dollar; continued global competition; and labour market shortages will all likely converge to create a demanding fiscal and economic context over the next few years.

Compliance Challenges

The evolving international economy, increasing business integration across borders, electronic commerce, and changing demographics are examples of the many factors that can potentially contribute to the compliance challenges associated with tax administration. For example, the abusive use of tax havens has been identified as a serious threat to compliance in many countries, including Canada. There is also public concern in Canada about the regulation of charities. Keeping abreast of these factors, as well as identifying and prioritizing compliance challenges, are important activities that enable us to adjust our strategies and programs to manage the key risks to compliance.

Tax administrations around the world have reported marked increases in tax debt inventories, a trend noted in recent Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) studies. Canada is no exception. Changing patterns in taxpayer compliance, economic factors affecting business viability, and the impact of increased verification activity are factors contributing to this trend, which is also being experienced by Canada.

Trust, Transparency, and Accountability

Recent events and government priorities have resulted in an even greater interest for the public service to operate in a culture of openness. This, coupled with the heightened expectations by citizens for clear linkages between expenditures and outcomes, reinforces the need for government institutions to function more efficiently. The protection of information by the CRA and the perception by Canadians of good service and fair treatment by the CRA play important roles in maintaining the public’s trust in the Agency.

Demographic Trends

Between 2001 and 2006, Canada experienced the highest rate of population growth (5.4%) among G8 countries, due mostly to international migration. It is projected that, by 2017, one in five Canadians will be a member of a visible minority, who will actually form the majority in Canada’s three largest cities. In addition, more and more Canadians are choosing to live in urban areas. Each of these trends is expected to impact the way the CRA delivers its programs.

Baby boomers will continue to influence public policy and will likely demand enhanced services. The number of seniors will double by 2020, creating tax and benefits implications (e.g., changes in status from employees to pension recipients). Many workers who are 50 years of age or older will work beyond traditional retirement age. There is a growing recognition that Canada needs to remove legal barriers to later-life employment and this could have implications on tax administration.

Changing demographics and economic growth create a competitive labour market for talent; standardization of benefits and work requirements is vanishing. The CRA continues to compete with other organizations to attract young workers. Retaining our employees with their wealth of corporate knowledge and creating the environment for effective knowledge transfer are critical to business sustainability, given current demographics and labour market projections.

Technological Change

The effective implementation of technology offers the opportunity to continuously improve service and increase productivity. Revenue administrations in all OECD countries increasingly rely on information technology (IT) solutions for risk analysis, service to the public, and compliance.

More and more, Canadians are demanding expanded electronic service options that are fast, efficient, and convenient, and that protect privacy and the confidentiality of their information. To achieve its mandate, the CRA relies heavily on IT to deliver its programs and services to Canadians, as was made clear in March 2007 when the Agency experienced computer system difficulties that prevented the public from completing electronic transactions using services such as My Account, Netfile and Efile.

Numerous CRA business programs are underpinned by increasingly complex technology and information/data sharing/integration requirements. In this context, ensuring that we maintain the physical IT infrastructure to house and protect our IT assets (e.g., applications and data) and ensuring our IT solutions can meet the growing business requirements are fundamental IT priorities for the CRA.

IT governance is also a growing concern across government. In the earlier days of computer technology, non-integrated solutions were the norm and IT governance for this type of system was simpler. With the transition to integrated IT solutions and in addressing the sustainability of legacy systems, IT governance issues are becoming increasingly apparent. How to define and manage data and system ownership and how to sustain and enhance these integrated IT systems are examples of important IT governance questions that are now surfacing. A thoughtful and well-formulated response to these questions will enable the CRA to manage the strategic advantage that our integrated solutions can provide. It will also maintain the confidence of Canadians that appropriate governance mechanisms are in place around IT investments.

Our Strategic Themes

Overview

As a national organization with an unparalleled program delivery capacity and extensive contact with citizens and businesses, the CRA has established itself as a high-performance organization, providing more services to more federal, provincial, territorial, and First Nations clients than ever before. The suite of three themes in our most recent Corporate Business Plan strengthened the CRA by placing greater focus on core business capacity, optimizing our governance model, and elaborating a business development strategy. With most of the attendant initiatives completed, it is time to reset and refresh our strategies.

This Report on Plans and Priorities 2008-2009 outlines strategies that recognize the ever-increasing role of the CRA and the growing dependence and trust our clients have in our performance. We will base assessments of our performance on progress in realizing our strategies through a sound internal performance measurement framework and, where warranted, assessments by renowned international organizations. We believe that our goals will be realized by achieving excellence in our operations and our workplace.

The following two strategic themes will guide us during the period covered by this report.

These two themes are interconnected. Operational excellence cannot be achieved without top-quality human resources. Through improved governance, collaboration, and communication, the CRA will think and work in a more horizontally integrated fashion to develop and implement our products, services, and systems.

In 2007, the CRA conducted an in-depth review of the funding, relevance and performance of all its programs and spending to ensure results and value for money from programs that are a priority for Canadians. The results of this Strategic Review were submitted to Treasury Board last fall, for subsequent review by Cabinet. The results of this Review will be reflected in future reporting to Parliament.

Excellence in Program Delivery

Canadians rely on the CRA for the fair administration of Canada’s tax laws and the delivery of credits and benefits that contribute to their economic and social well-being. Along with the Government of Canada, our provincial, territorial, and First Nations clients expect us to ensure compliance with their tax legislation and to raise the revenues necessary to provide Canadians the means to realize a safe, healthy, and prosperous country.

To achieve operational excellence and to ensure the integrity and fairness of the Canadian system of tax administration, our focus over the planning period will be on:

• strengthening service;
• enhancing our efforts to address non-compliance;
• reinforcing trust; and
• maintaining effective relationships.

Strengthening Service

Promoting a high degree of compliance reduces the burden of administering and collecting taxes for all Canadians. Voluntary compliance and self-assessment are the best, most cost-effective ways to administer Canada’s tax system. Given the opportunities, information, and tools, most Canadian individuals and businesses will comply with the law. The open, responsive, timely, and accessible nature of information regarding taxpayers’ obligations are key aspects of a fair revenue administration.

We are finalizing and will implement a CRA Service Strategy. Each tax and benefits service we deliver must be integrated with our compliance strategy and consider our costs and capacity as well as the needs and expectations of the Canadians, businesses, and clients we deal with every day. Reducing the cost and complexity of dealing with government is particularly relevant to the business community, where every cost element is a factor in competitiveness. For example, the CRA will implement the initiatives of the Action Task Force on Small Business Issues.

Service delivery begins with the right infrastructure. Canadians have embraced our service modernization initiatives, and clearly support enhancements that make service faster and provide easier access to information. A large part of our success in building a suite of services for Canadians is a result of our extensive program of consultation in designing, developing, and evaluating our service offerings. The ability to structure our services to the needs of the groups with whom we deal is critical because the way we serve them shapes Canadians’ perception of the CRA.

In implementing our service strategy, we will provide information to and consult with key stakeholders to develop and promote further electronic services. We will focus on the efficient management of our service mechanisms to meet taxpayer needs, optimize the use of technology, and reach out to all taxpayers and benefit recipients.

It is also important that we constantly communicate what the CRA does and why to reinforce to Canadians the idea that paying the right amount of tax is a civic responsibility and access to appropriate benefits is a civic right. We will promote voluntary compliance through an enhanced communications approach, and adapt our services to the characteristics of identified segments of the Canadian population. We will also continue to strengthen our communications concerning the consequences of non-compliance. To maintain high enrolment for benefit programs, we will continue communications and outreach activities with benefit recipients, especially persons with disabilities.

As a federal institution acting in the national interest, we will complete the successful transition of the harmonized administration of Ontario corporate tax to the CRA.

The CRA is front and centre in the Government of Canada’s service agenda. This is not only because enhancing service is a critical strategy for the CRA to achieve our tax compliance and benefits delivery objectives, but because of our extensive public contact and our past leadership on service innovation and automation.

As we continue to move our service agenda forward, we must react to changing government priorities, new government initiatives, environmental impacts, the government service renewal direction, and economic statements. In order to meet these demands, we will continue to invest in management best practices and technology as part of our flexible infrastructure. These investments will allow us to meet the needs of Canadians and enable us to achieve our performance objectives.

Enhancing our Efforts to Address Non-Compliance

Compliance with tax laws is important to keep Canada’s tax system fair for all and to support the programs and services that benefit all Canadians. Taxes collected by the CRA fund a wide range of social and economic programs, such as national security, education, health care, social assistance, income and economic supplements and incentives (e.g., the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program), and many of the goods and services that enrich the quality of life of Canadians. For these reasons, the CRA promotes compliance and addresses non-compliance to help ensure that everyone pays their required taxes and that Canada’s revenue base is protected.

Canada’s tax laws are complex and taxpayers’ tax arrangements are growing more sophisticated. Promoting compliance requires that we keep pace with changes in our operating environment, which range from new economic conditions to changing international opportunities to technological advances. In addition, we must assess the impact of these changes on our ability to operate as well as their effect on compliance with our tax laws. The CRA’s approach is dynamic and balanced. We provide support to those who wish to comply with Canadian tax laws, while taking appropriate action to identify and deal with those who do not.

We will continue to assess our compliance strategies to ensure that we identify and address the most serious cases of non-compliance and take appropriate action to ensure that Canada’s revenue base is protected in a cost-effective manner. We will increase our focus on aggressive tax planning—including the abusive use of tax havens. Each compliance activity will be developed and implemented with full consideration given to our other compliance activities and the CRA service delivery strategy.

We will also leverage, as key communications partners, tax practitioners and other intermediaries to help enhance compliance and to identify and implement service improvements. We will work to strengthen how we collect information through the increased use of transaction records and information slips, such as share sales and asset transfers. Keeping in mind potential privacy concerns and statutory limitations, we will also identify opportunities for—and assess the benefits of—additional reporting by third parties and seek more information sharing with other government departments and agencies in achieving our service delivery and compliance objectives.

Our approach to compliance is supported through co-operation with other tax administrations and international organizations. We will work with various international groups such as the OECD and the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre to identify and respond to compliance threats, and share experience and best practices.

Tax administrations around the world have reported marked increases in tax debt inventories, a trend faced by many OECD countries. The contributing factors are acknowledged to be numerous and complex due to variables such as changing taxpayer compliance patterns and economic factors affecting business viability. This trend has been noted in Canada as well; consequently, maximizing tax debt collections continues to be a priority for the CRA.

Over the planning period, we will continue with the integration of relevant business processes and improve our risk profiling capability for accounts that are subject to our tax debt activities. Each of these activities focuses on significantly refining our program delivery model, improving our processes and systems infrastructure through our Integrated Revenue Collections Project, and undertaking improvements designed to manage our tax debt workloads more effectively.

Reinforcing Trust

The Government of Canada has recently responded to demands for increased accountability and placed a renewed focus on values and ethics by those in a position of public trust. Given the CRA’s size and extensive contact with Canadians, our performance and the way we deal with Canadians significantly influences the public perception of government. We will be successful only if Canadians continue to trust us to be fair, open, and professional, and to keep their information confidential.

To retain the public’s trust, the CRA must ensure that Canada’s tax administration system is both fair and seen to be fair. We will fully support the Taxpayer Bill of Rights which confirms that the CRA will continue to serve taxpayers with a high degree of accuracy, professionalism, courtesy and fairness.

Taxpayers who feel that they have been treated fairly have greater confidence in their dealings with us, which, in turn, enhances our capacity to protect Canada’s revenue base. Access to fair and impartial redress is integral to Canada’s tax system. Consequently, we will maintain high levels of transparency and consistency in dispute resolution, while at the same time seeking opportunities for improvement.

To foster increased taxpayer confidence in our self-assessment system, we will also strengthen processes for the administration of taxpayer relief provisions and support the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman to address service-related complaints. In addition, we will continue to demonstrate how we merit Canadians’ trust in our commitment to meeting our targets under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Maintaining Effective Relationships

The CRA has had established relationships with other federal government departments, provinces, territories, and First Nations governments for many years.

A specific initiative will be to define the Basic Service Offering to provinces and territories, and where mutually agreed, enhance service levels on a cost-recovery basis.

Our relationship with the Department of Finance is a comprehensive one that covers tax policy, fiscal and revenue planning and forecasts, Government of Canada positions on technical issues, and a number of benefit-type programs that are delivered through Canada’s tax system. A healthy and positive relationship with the Department of Finance is critical to the current and future CRA.

We will manage and advance our relationship with the Department of Finance to develop a better appreciation of where tax policy and financial reporting requirements could be moving over the coming years. This information will be used not only to shape our strategies, but will also contribute to the ongoing development of our infrastructure and knowledge.

We will also focus on building an appropriate and constructive relationship with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)—one that complements the authority of our Board of Management.

Measuring Our Strategic Outcomes

We use the following two strategic outcomes to assess our success in achieving the CRA’s mandate.

These strategic outcomes govern the priorities we pursue and the investments we make to support those priorities.

Strategic Results Chain

This Report on Plans and Priorities rests on a strategic results chain (see ). The results chain illustrates the different levels of results that the CRA seeks to achieve. At the higher levels of the chain, it becomes increasingly challenging for us to demonstrate our direct influence. The lower part of our results chain shows the expected results that we work toward to influence the results of strategic outcome measures shown higher on the chain. Building on our achievements against our expected results, we use our strategic outcome measures as indicators of Canadians’ behaviour to assess whether or not we have met our strategic outcome.

Beginning on , we identify each expected result for each of our Program Activities and discuss the priority initiatives that we will undertake to enhance our results against our key indicators and targets. Since several expected results span our program activities, the illustration of our results chain does not exactly match the CRA’s Program Activity Architecture shown on .

In addition, we use our results chain to identify gaps and address the relevancy of our results measures and indicators. We are currently in the midst of a complete review of our strategic measures and indicators as well as their targets. We have included in this report the initial results of this review for both the Tax Services and the Benefit Programs strategic outcomes. In some instances, targets for our measures have yet to be determined. Over the coming years, we intend to establish these targets and to take further steps to improve our indicators to enhance our ability to report against our strategic outcomes.

Strategic Results Chain

The results of the CRA contribute to two of the Government of Canada’s strategic outcomes¹ :

• Federal organizations that support all departments and agencies, and
• Income security and employment for Canadians.

Tax Services

Taxpayers meet their obligations and Canada’s revenue base is protected

Overview

The CRA’s approach to tax administration is to have taxpayers comply with their obligations without our intervention. Compliance with Canada’s tax laws means fulfilling the following requirements:

• registering as required under the law in specific circumstances (for example, for the GST);
• filing returns on time;
• reporting complete and accurate information to determine tax liability; and
• paying all amounts when due.

This approach to administering Canada’s tax laws relies on effective risk management to identify compliance risks and assess them for their potential effect on the revenue base. At the same time, we address these risks by delivering a number of services that help taxpayers calculate their taxes correctly. We facilitate this by providing information products and services which encourage participation and allow us to detect and address instances where correct reporting does not occur.

We continually review program results to confirm that they are achieving expectations and to optimize the utilization of resources. As well, part of our risk management approach is to maintain an audit presence across all industry sectors and types of taxpayers. We believe this approach helps promote voluntary compliance and deter non-compliance by increasing the credibility and visibility of our compliance programs.

Measuring Results Against Our Tax Services Strategic Outcome

We use our Compliance Measurement Framework to monitor and measure compliance and evaluate and refine our approaches to addressing non-compliance. Using data from internal and external sources as a baseline of compliance information, we monitor compliance with a set of macro indicators, as well as indicators for the following segments of the Canadian taxpayer population:

• individuals;
• corporations;
• GST/HST registrants;
• employers; and
• charities.

Benefit Programs

Eligible families and individuals receive timely and correct benefit payments

Overview

Income security is essential to the economic and social well-being of Canadians. By providing benefits, credits, and other related services, the CRA supports the efforts of governments to assist families and children, low- and moderate-income households, and persons with disabilities.

Our flexibilities as an agency and the adaptability of our systems enable us to leverage the delivery infrastructure we have in place for federal programs to also administer a range of ongoing and one-time programs on behalf of the provinces, territories, and other government departments. These aspects also enable us to provide information, as authorized by law, to support the programs that these clients administer themselves.

Our focus is to ensure that eligible Canadians access the benefits and credits to which they are entitled, and that they meet their obligations so that they can receive timely and correct payments—no less and no more. We believe that families and individuals will access programs and comply with their benefits-related obligations when they are informed about them and clearly understand what they need to do to meet eligibility requirements and receive their entitlements.

Measuring Results Against Our Benefit Programs Strategic Outcome

The indicators that we use to measure results focus on the following:

• the extent to which recipients apply for benefit programs;
• the extent to which recipients meet their continuing obligation to provide us with up-to-date eligibility and account information (which is important in ensuring that payments are correct and overpayments are minimized);
• the timeliness of the payments; and
• the attractiveness of our program and service delivery infrastructure to federal, provincial, and territorial clients.

A Workplace Committed to Excellence

The full potential of the CRA’s commitment to excellence in program delivery can be realized only within a workplace culture that is committed to excellence. Building a modern, progressive human resources regime has been key to our success as an agency. Sustained successful delivery of our core business depends on the approximately 44,000 people who work for the CRA.

It is critical that we maintain a strong culture of creativity, innovation, pride, and openness that offers employees opportunities and interesting work, while ensuring that our workforce reflects the diversity of the Canadian population. Over the planning period, we will focus on encouraging innovative work practices and promoting a culture of achievement. We will ensure a work environment that respects diversity and our core values of professionalism, co-operation, respect, and integrity.

The CRA is responsible for its own human resources regime and, since becoming an agency, we have continued to revise our human resources policies, systems, and infrastructure to more effectively support the achievement of our business results.

The CRA’s human resources agenda aligns well with the Public Service Renewal initiative. Workforce demographic shifts caused by an aging workforce and talent management issues are shared challenges. Over the planning period, we will continue to be a leader in Public Service human resources management practices and will put in place an integrated human resources plan that ensures that we have the right people in the right place at the right time with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and motivation to achieve excellence. We will more fully integrate our workforce planning processes with business planning to identify key human resources challenges. We will work to ensure that our workforce is sustainable and that any potential capacity risks are identified and dealt with effectively.

As a critical first step, we will develop a comprehensive understanding of the human resources risks and challenges we face as an organization and the competencies required to further our business objectives. Following sound talent management principles, we will ensure that we mitigate human resources capacity or capability risks and have the processes in place to systematically close the gaps between the talent we have and the talent we require to successfully respond to current and future business needs.

Refining how the CRA recruits, develops, manages, and retains its workforce will ensure that our human resources policies and practices continue to support service excellence to Canadians today and in the future. We will also analyze demographic and retirement trends to assist managers to recruit strategically. We will extend our current executive and management succession planning programs to include technical and all management jobs beginning in 2008.

To ensure that CRA remains a leader with respect to having a diverse workforce representative of the Canadian population, we will be proactive in our recruitment and development programs such as the CRA’s Aboriginal Student Employment Program. We will strengthen the linkages with universities and colleges that produce business, audit, accounting, finance, and IT graduates. Bridging students into CRA positions will continue to be a priority, as will the targeted external recruitment of qualified individuals. Once hired, it is important that new employees be given the proper orientation and training to fit in quickly and become full contributors to CRA operations.

Standardized staffing processes accelerate hiring and make it more transparent. In support of this, we will implement the CRA’s new electronic resourcing tool which includes the management of job notices, applications, online screenings, and offers.

The staffing system in the CRA that is based on Competency-Based Human Resources Management (CBHRM) will ensure that we will have employees with the competencies necessary to demonstrate excellence in the delivery of tax and benefit programs. In addition, this regime will ensure that our employees will be evaluated, developed, and promoted based on the competencies that have been identified as critical to our success.

Acquiring the right people with the right competencies through strategic, timely, and efficient processes is critical to the CRA’s continued success. It is our aim to continue to attract and retain the best available human resources and give them the tools and training they need to be successful. To this end, we will develop strategies to attract young talent and promote careers in the federal public service by providing valuable training and development opportunities, pay and benefits that are competitive, flexible work schedules, and respect for employees’ personal and family needs. We will strive to be an attractive place for new graduates to develop rewarding careers and continue to use a variety of recruitment programs to attract well-qualified candidates to the CRA.

Our human resources service delivery model will allow us to streamline our HR operations to provide an integrated process that will support business managers in their human resources responsibilities, and employees in the management of their career in the CRA. This model will also include performance measurement of key human resources indicators.

We believe these strategies address the need for the CRA to adapt to the realities of a knowledge-based economy—where competition for skilled resources is intense—and to grow by building a workplace that attracts top quality talent.

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