October 26, 2012
The Honourable Gail Shea
Minister of National Revenue
7th Floor
555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
RE: New Storage Model for the Management of CRA Records
Dear Minister Shea:
I write to you as the President of the Union of Taxation Employees, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, of which 27,000 of your employees are our members and your employees.
On October 25, 2012, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced yet more cuts in the name of austerity. To this end, the CRA has issued affected notices to 267 indeterminate employees who work for its Assessment and Benefits Services Branch and its Financial Administration Branch in an effort to move document storage from CRA to a private service provider. For the most part, these affected employees are the most vulnerable and lowest paid CRA employees and UTE members. In addition, a yet unidentified number of positions will also be eliminated for those determinate employees who have long worked for the CRA in this function.
The Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) respectfully suggests that this initiative is ill-advised and poorly thought out. Madame Minister, UTE submits that the decision makers have not carefully considered a number of viable options to the decision at hand. Neither have they considered the adverse consequences to the CRA and the Government of Canada, in general. Notwithstanding the fact that Library and Archives Canada has announced that it will no longer store the CRA’s records, UTE asserts that the CRA has the qualified, trained and reliable personnel and the space at CRA locations to itself maintain these sensitive and confidential records safely and securely in an efficient and cost conscious manner.
After the CRA’s initiative to eliminate client services to taxpayers through the closing of counter operations, it is now venturing to privatize public service jobs and attempting to do so without letting the public know that their personal tax information will now be in the hands of a private, profit-driven firm. Do you believe that the Canadian taxpayers will be comfortable with this? UTE submits that this initiative will do nothing to enhance the public’s confidence in the integrity of the tax system and its faith that their personal information is being safeguarded.
This is a devastatingly shortsighted move and one that is certainly not free from grave concern for the security of confidential and sensitive information. In an era of increased identity theft and selling of vital information, can you sincerely assure the taxpayers of Canada that there will be no breach of information when you transition to this dangerous model?
Communities like Summerside (Borden), St. John’s, Jonquiere, Shawinigan, Sudbury, Ottawa, Surrey and Winnipeg are the ones bearing the brunt of your efforts to scale down the public service and put Canadians’ tax information at risk. Additionally, some of the areas being affected by this privatization of services are already facing high levels of unemployment. Significant losses of employment in these locations will also have spin-off effects on local economies and small businesses.
We at the Union of Taxation Employees – PSAC strongly encourage you to reconsider such a risky move and ask for your intervention in this matter. I would welcome the opportunity to further discuss this matter with you.
Sincerely,
Robert Campbell
National President
Union of Taxation Employees
cc L. Lizotte-MacPherson
H. Mai
Hon. S. Brison
R. Benson