The First 60 Days

First month – Proposed briefing schedule

Swearing-in ceremony for new ministers/meet the Commissioner

Welcome to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

Meeting with the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner
Office orientation and administrative decisions, including establishing staff and other logistics
Discuss briefing plan for the coming month
Welcome to the CRA – introductory briefing

Settling in

Email to all CRA staff from the Minister
Approval of biography and photograph
Approval of signature and letter templates
Finalizing office logistics
Other demands on Minister’s time (e.g., cabinet business, parliamentary affairs, and constituency office)

Administrative briefings

Transition briefings

Branch and region overviews
Core activities briefings
- The filing experience
- Benefit and credit administration
- The compliance continuum: Helping Canadians meet their tax obligations
Chair of the Board of Management (briefing/arranged call)
Taxpayers' Ombudsperson (briefing/arranged call)
Meet and greet with the Agency Management Committee members
Agency programs and files
- Program briefings
  - Service landscape
  - Taxpayer support, including contact centres, automatic tax filing, and Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) and CVITP Grant
  - Criminal Investigations
  - Litigation forecast
  - Charities 101
  - International taxation 101
  - Excise tax 101
  - Business Tax Incentives
  - Role of the Agency in government
  - Simplification of tax and benefits administration
- File briefings
  - Disability benefits and credits
  - Tax debt (i.e., write-offs)
  - Tax gap
  - Single tax return for Quebec
  - Aggressive GST/HST schemes
  - Remaining pandemic compliance and collections activities
  - Collective bargaining
  - e-Invoicing

Agency programs and files, continued
Government and Ministerial priorities
Ministerial advisory committees
- Disability Advisory Committee
- Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector
- Independent Advisory Board on Eligibility for Journalism Tax Measures
Question Period preparation
Spokesperson training
Cabinet Affairs at the CRA – Introduction
Communications briefing

Preliminary list of key decisions – first 60 days
Subject	Description	Timing
[Redacted]	[Redacted]	[Redacted]
[Redacted]	[Redacted]	[Redacted]
Publication of the second overall federal tax gap report on Canada.ca	From 2016 to 2020, the CRA estimated different components of the federal tax gap and published seven reports. In 2022, the CRA published Canada’s first overall tax gap report, which brought together all previously published tax gap components with updated estimates and key findings up to tax year 2018. The CRA’s tax gap program plans to publish the second overall tax gap report in 2025 (target: end of June) with updated estimates and key findings up to tax year 2022, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the federal tax gap. This report delivers on the CRA’s commitment to estimate Canada’s federal tax gap on an ongoing basis and make the information about the size of that gap publicly available. For additional context, in 2016, the Government of Canada supported the recommendation from the Standing Committee on Finance (Recommendation 7 (PDF, 2.4 MB)). There has been sustained interest from Parliament to publish the tax gap on an ongoing basis (Senate Bills S-226, S-243, S-258). The plan to publish the next report in 2025 was discussed at the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance in October 2023 and April 2024.	Target publication: end of June

Upcoming potential Ministerial engagements
Event name	Description	Date
Virtual Coffee Chats with CRA employees	The Minister may wish to take the opportunity to have casual virtual coffee chats with members of the various CRA employee networks, sectors, branches, regions, or other CRA groups.	Anytime, at the Minister’s convenience
In-person visits to CRA offices across the country or National Capital Region	The Minister may wish to take the opportunity to visit CRA employees in local or regional buildings.	Anytime, at the Minister’s convenience

2025-09-09