As CRA braces for wave of COVID-19 benefits applications, call centres working at ‘reduced capacity’

OTTAWA – The Canada Revenue Agency’s call centres experienced dropped calls and struggled to keep up with demand this week, just as it prepares to be flooded with calls from people seeking to apply for new COVID-19 emergency benefits.

In other words, CRA says the strain put on Canada’s telephony infrastructure by millions of Canadians suddenly isolating at home and socializing mainly by phone or internet cut down on the agency’s ability to accept calls earlier this week.“At the moment, the issues that were restricting our call volumes appear to have been addressed, but we continue to monitor and work with our partners to ensure phone services are running optimally,” Morin assured on Wednesday evening.

Though the department will be encouraging CERB recipients to apply through CRA’s online My Account portal, the department will also be accepting applications by phone. Thus, the timing of these issues could not be worse. Canada’s wireless regulator confirmed to the National Post that these are indeed extraordinary times when it comes to traffic on telecommunication networks.

But COVID-19 pandemic or not, this is far from the first time CRA’s call centre experiences glitches that prevent Canadians from reaching an agent.

Send your application for COVID-19 benefits Online!!!

CRA indicated that they expected to be able to handle all these demands. What a laugh! They can't even handle questions from people regarding the tax code. They are hopeless. This will be a boondoggle.

Shocking. Crackerjack reporting as always.

Press pause on everything. Just follow the money demand all the way to the bank. Everyone just stop, and wait.

Implementation is not a strength of the Liberal Government.

Understandable given circumstances

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