According to an Access to Information document, senior management at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) praised the government finance agency as “an important part of the engine that helps Canada operate.”
“We make Canada better. We contribute to the quality of life in Canada by striving to deliver world class tax and benefit services that touch the lives of over 36 million Canadians,” management said.
The remarks were made in response to a contest application to be named one of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers” in 2020. The winners were chosen by MediaCorp Canada Inc. of Toronto.
In their application, the CRA listed a number of employee benefits including, eighteen weeks’ paid maternity leave, 5% bonuses for executives, up to six weeks’ paid vacation, fifteen paid sick days a year, 45 hours of family-related paid leave annually, an annual barbeque and a certificate signed by the Prime Minister for ten years’ service.
In September, as a large swathe of Canadians remained out of work due to the ongoing pandemic, 29,000 CRA employees received a retroactive salary increase.
The tentative agreement, which was negotiated by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, will give CRA employees an average annual raise of 2.2% retroactively.
In November, the CRA also refused to elaborate on a spike in audits of small businesses who benefited from the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.
Despite calls from the Conservatives to pause audits on small businesses, the CRA would not provide further information on where auditors have been allocated since relocating 3,000 of them to focus on coronavirus programs on April 21.
