The Canada Revenue Agency is set to lay off around 260 employees after announcing that a new round of workforce adjustments are to take place at regional offices.
“Both executives and non-executive positions are impacted,” Etienne Biram, spokesperson for CRA, said in a statement.
Around 735 employees across the regional offices were told on Oct. 28 that their positions were at risk, while the agency says that some of those jobs will be safe.
“ To support continued employment where future opportunities can be reasonably assured, the CRA provided guarantees of continued employment to 110 affected employees,” Biram said.
Adam Jackson, president of the Union of Taxation Employees, told the Ottawa Citizen that the rest of the employees would have to undergo a retention process as part of the workforce adjustments.
The CRA points to structural organizational changes to programs and services as well as the federal government’s spending review as reasons for the layoff decisions.
“The organizational changes the CRA put in place help align programs, services and organizational structures with current and future business needs. They support the agency’s transformation and its priorities: service excellence, revenue generation, and operational efficiency,” Biram said.
In an interview, Jackson described the language from the agency as “a lot of bureaucratic, kafka-esque speak.”
Jackson said that the CRA ultimately should have “more employees” providing services to Canadians, “not less.”
“This is saving money on the backs of our members, which we fundamentally oppose,” he said.
Biram noted that the agency “ recognizes the uncertainty these changes create for employees and is committed to supporting them throughout this process.
“ The CRA has made significant progress in reducing expenditures and finding efficiencies. These efforts have been essential to improving our financial position, largely achieving our expenditure targets and meeting our savings commitment.”
Biram said that the CRA expected that there would be no service disruptions to Canadians.
However, Jackson disagreed, saying that the layoffs would have a “trickle-down effect” and that there would be impacts to service delivery “for sure.”
Jackson said letters were “widespread” and sent to assessment benefit services branch, the commissioner’s office, human resources, compliance and other branches at the agency. Letters to those in CRA’s once-struggling contact centres were “certainly not as widespread there, if at all,” he added.
The contact centres have been a central concern of the cost-cutting, which has led to a 100-day service-improvement plan led by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne for CRA.
The Oct. 28 letters and layoff announcement mark a break in a relatively quiet period for layoffs at the CRA since 2025, when the agency let go thousands of workers.
Jackson said he was not surprised given that there were cutbacks around budget season last year.
“We’ll see what future plans the agency has, but I’m not sure how much more you can cut from the agency and still provide the services needed,” Jackson said.
The federal government recently announced that the 2026 budget would be tabled on Nov. 5.
