Videocast transcript: Interim report

Hello, I'm Paul Dubé, Canada's first Taxpayers' Ombudsman.

I often get asked: what is a Taxpayers' Ombudsman?

Well, an Ombudsman is a person who has been appointed to look into complaints addressed to an organization.

An Ombudsman is an independent and impartial party who does not take sides.

An Ombudsman strives for fairness and objectivity in the treatment of people and the consideration of issues.

Essentially, my job is to see Canadians get the professional service and fair treatment they are entitled to from the CRA, the Canada Revenue Agency.

I can identify systemic problems and make recommendations on how to solve them.

And, I have the power to make recommendations directly to the Minister of National Revenue.

I have been on the job for a year now, and I am pleased to submit my first interim report which explains my role and the workings of my office.

In my report I talk about four things:

One - How the development of the Office is coming along and how our relationship with CRA is evolving.

Two - My outreach activities to inform and consult Canadians from coast to coast.

Three - My first steps towards identifying systemic CRA service and fairness issues affecting Canadians.

And four, and most importantly, I give examples of how our work is already making a difference in the lives of many Canadians.

In our first year, we answered almost 4,000 inquiries.

In some cases we found that taxpayers were treated fairly and professionally by the CRA.

But, in other cases we found that there was a lack of professionalism or fairness.

Our intervention in these cases resulted in a variety of corrective actions by the CRA, ranging from apologies, to the cessation of collection activities, to the reimbursement of money.

As I mentioned, my Office has already made a difference in the lives of many Canadians. For example.

A single mother who was about to lose her home, received a thirty-eight thousand dollar child care tax benefit reimbursement, which enabled her to keep her home.

The operator of a special care home for adults was able to continue to operate after CRA ceased it's collection activities and released the taxpayer's bank account.

Penalties and interest were cancelled for a man suffering from a brain tumour, who lost his documents in a house fire.

The government of Canada wants to maximize fairness and transparency in the relationship between taxpayers and the CRA.

That is why it created the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman.

It is now up to Canadians to use this service.

If you are not satisfied with the fairness or quality of service you received from CRA, you now have someone impartial and independent to review your CRA service complaints.

You can reach my Office by many means. The information on how to reach us is in the contact us section of this web site.

Thank you for your attention.

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