With the deadline for Canadians to file their taxes just days away, some accountants are worried that the public servants’ strike could cause low-income taxpayers to miss out on filing and securing access to the benefits they rely on.
The strike of more than 35,000 Canada Revenue Agency employees has made it much more difficult to reach out to government experts, with some services suspended and others seeing prolonged delays.
“People don’t have three or four hours in their day to sit there and wait on the CRA to answer their phone calls,” said Eric Saumure, a chartered accountant with Zenbooks.
“The CRA does have a mandate to help Canadians file their taxes appropriately, and the CRA agents just aren’t there to help.”
Saumure was “absolutely surprised” when Minister of Revenue Diane Lebouthillier announced last week that the tax deadline will not change because of the strike, especially since the CRA was able to extend such allowances at the start of the pandemic.
“There’s gonna be penalties. There’s gonna be interest. Canadians just don’t have the money for additional penalties. They barely have enough to pay the taxes that that the government is putting in place.”
There are about 39,000 Canada Revenue Agency workers on strike. Of them, 1,400 have been deemed essential workers. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
‘Agents aren’t there to support them’
Saumure channelled that frustration into a petition that urges the government to extend its deadline to June 15, when those who are self-employed are required to file their returns.
By late Monday, it was nearing 25,000 signatures.
“This is really blowing up,” he said, pointing to complications with CERB repayments and new tax credits that some people might need clarification on. “And the agents aren’t there to support them.”
Marc d’Orgeville, the executive director of Ottawa’s EBO Financial Education Centre, supports the petition’s goal, but he wants more: an assurance that people who do not file their taxes on time will continue to have access to crucial benefits.
“Benefits are set for the year and they start in July based on the taxes you’re going to file now for the previous year,” he explained. “One aspect, which is critical for low income Canadians is to file taxes to get their benefits.”
The Canada Revenue Agency is encouraging Canadians to file their taxes online so they can be processed automatically, but those who work with people living on a low income say that can be a challenge. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)
Benefits can make up half a person’s income
The government agency has encouraged people to file online, so their returns can be processed automatically. But Saumure and d’Orgeville said that’s not easy for everyone.
“For lots of vulnerable and low-income Canadian, they don’t have the skills or they have a locked account with CRA and they cannot get that information and they would not be able to file taxes without that,” d’Orgeville said.
His organization runs a tax clinic to help people in this situation. Appointments from now to deadline day are full, but clients can still book one for a late filing.
“If you file in May, you’re probably OK to get your benefit on time in July. If you file in June, you’re probably too late. So we’re going to try to to submit as many taxes as possible for people who need our help.”
While it may not be time to panic just yet, d’Orgeville underscored that this situation is stressful.
“It can be 50 per cent of their income which disappears in July, if you take a family with four children working or on social assistance,” he said. “If you take a senior who’s receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement, this can also be 50 per cent.”
Marc Brière from the Union of Taxation Employees says members want to help those filing their taxes, but they can’t continue to work without a contract. (Julie Ireton/CBC)
Union also pushing for deadline extension
Marc Brière, the national president of the Union of Taxation Employees — which is a subcomponent of PSAC and represents the CRA workers on strike — said he understands the situation is frustrating for people, and wants the Canada Revenue Agency to resolve the issue.
“I don’t understand the minister’s and the government’s decision to not postpone the filing season,” he said. “I just don’t get it. I think they will have to.”
He also said workers would much rather be on the phone lines than the picket lines, especially at a time when the CRA typically gets around 1,000,000 calls a week.
But he said timing the strike in this way allows the union “to apply pressure.”
“I’m asking you, if we would not be in that position, would the government care or would we still be without a contract for the next two to three years?”
CRA spokesperson Adam Blondin responded to the filing concerns in a statement which reiterated the government’s intention to keep the current deadline in place.
“The CRA encourages Canadians to file on time in order to continue to receive the benefits and credits they are entitled to and to avoid late filing penalties,” he wrote. “However, when circumstances beyond a Canadian’s control prevent them from meeting their tax obligations, the CRA may grant relief from penalty or interest.”
The promise of a case-by-case review will provide little comfort to worried taxpayers, Saumure said.
“I think that’s a default answer,” he explained. “We don’t suspect that every Canadian will be eligible.”
All in a Day9:39The deadline to file your taxes is almost here
An Ottawa tax accountant is asking that it be pushed to a later date as many CRA employees are on picket lines.
CALGARY – MEG Energy says it earned $167 million in its third quarter, down from $249 million during the same quarter last year.
The company says revenues for the quarter were $1.27 billion, down from $1.44 billion during the third quarter of 2023.
Diluted earnings per share were 62 cents, down from 86 cents a year earlier.
MEG Energy says it successfully completed its debt reduction strategy, reducing its net debt to US$478 million by the end of September, down from US$634 million during the prior quarter.
President and CEO Darlene Gates said moving forward all the company’s free cash flow will be returned to shareholders through expanded share buybacks and a quarterly base dividend.
The company says its capital expenditures for the quarter increased to $141 million from $83 million a year earlier, mainly due to higher planned field development activity, as well as moderate capacity growth projects.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
Premier David Eby is proposing an all-party committee investigate mistakes made during the British Columbia election vote tally, including an uncounted ballot box and unreported votes in three-quarters of the province’s 93 ridings.
The proposal comes after B.C.’s chief electoral officer blamed extreme weather, long working hours and a new voting system for human errors behind the mistakes in last month’s count, though none were large enough to change the initial results.
Anton Boegman says the agency is already investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned” to improve training, change processes or make recommendations for legislative change.
He says the uncounted ballot box containing about 861 votes in Prince George-Mackenzie was never lost, and was always securely in the custody of election officials.
Boegman says a failure in five districts to properly report a small number of out-of-district votes, meanwhile, rippled through to the counts in 69 ridings.
Eby says the NDP will propose that a committee examine the systems used and steps taken by Elections BC, then recommend improvements in future elections.
“I look forward to working with all MLAs to uphold our shared commitment to free and fair elections, the foundation of our democracy,” he said in a statement Tuesday, after a news conference by Boegman.
Boegman said if an independent review does occur, “Elections BC will, of course, fully participate in that process.”
He said the mistakes came to light when a “discrepancy” of 14 votes was noticed in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, spurring a review that increased the number of unreported votes there to 28.
Surrey-Guildford was the closest race in the election and the NDP victory there gave Eby a one-seat majority. The discovery reduced the NDP’s victory margin from 27 to 21, pending the outcome of a judicial review that was previously triggered because the race was so close.
The mistakes in Surrey-Guildford resulted in a provincewide audit that found the other errors, Boegman said.
“These mistakes were a result of human error. Our elections rely on the work of over 17,000 election officials from communities across the province,” he said.
“Election officials were working 14 hours or more on voting days and on final voting day in particular faced extremely challenging weather conditions in many parts of the province.
“These conditions likely contributed to these mistakes,” he said.
B.C.’s “vote anywhere” model also played a role in the errors, said Boegman, who said he had issued an order to correct the results in the affected ridings.
Boegman said the uncounted Prince George-Mackenzie ballot box was used on the first day of advance voting. Election officials later discovered a vote hadn’t been tabulated, so they retabulated the ballots but mistakenly omitted the box of first-day votes, only including ballots from the second day.
Boegman said the issues discovered in the provincewide audit will be “fully documented” in his report to the legislature on the provincial election, the first held using electronic tabulators.
He said he was confident election officials found all “anomalies.”
B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad had said on Monday that the errors were “an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”
Rustad said he was not disputing the outcomes as judicial recounts continue, but said “it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process.”
Rustad called for an “independent review” to make sure the errors never happen again.
Boegman, who said the election required fewer than half the number of workers under the old paper-based system, said results for the election would be returned in 90 of the province’s 93 ridings on Tuesday.
Full judicial recounts will be held in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna-Centre, while a partial recount of the uncounted box will take place in Prince George-Mackenzie.
Boegman said out-of-district voting had been a part of B.C.’s elections for many decades, and explained how thousands of voters utilized the province’s vote-by-phone system, calling it a “very secure model” for people with disabilities.
“I think this is a unique and very important part of our elections, providing accessibility to British Columbians,” he said. “They have unparalleled access to the ballot box that is not found in other jurisdictions in Canada.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
WINNIPEG – A public memorial honouring former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools, Murray Sinclair, is set to take place in Winnipeg on Sunday.
The event, which is being organized by the federal and Manitoba governments, will be at Canada Life Centre, home of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.
Sinclair died Monday in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of 73.
A teepee and a sacred fire were set up outside the Manitoba legislature for people to pay their respects hours after news of his death became public. The province has said it will remain open to the public until Sinclair’s funeral.
Sinclair’s family continues to invite people to visit the sacred fire and offer tobacco.
The family thanked the public for sharing words of love and support as tributes poured in this week.
“The significance of Mazina Giizhik’s (the One Who Speaks of Pictures in the Sky) impact and reach cannot be overstated,” the family said in a statement on Tuesday, noting Sinclair’s traditional Anishinaabe name.
“He touched many lives and impacted thousands of people.”
They encourage the public to celebrate his life and journey home.
A visitation for extended family, friends and community is also scheduled to take place Wednesday morning.
Leaders from across Canada shared their memories of Sinclair.
Premier Wab Kinew called Sinclair one of the key architects of the era of reconciliation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sinclair was a teacher, a guide and a friend who helped the country navigate tough realities.
Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge in Manitoba — the second in Canada.
He served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba to examine whether the justice system was failing Indigenous people after the murder of Helen Betty Osborne and the police shooting death of First Nations leader J.J. Harper.
In leading the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he participated in hundreds of hearings across Canada and heard testimony from thousands of residential school survivors.
The commissioners released their widely influential final report in 2015, which described what took place at the institutions as cultural genocide and included 94 calls to action.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
