PRESS RELEASE
Ottawa, April 2, 2025
At a rally this morning, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, declared that he did not want to live in a country of tax collectors and bureaucrats.
Perhaps this comment is popular among his party's electoral base. However, by making such a public statement, Mr. Poilievre showed a total lack of respect for the members of the Union of Taxation Employees, who work at the Canada Revenue Agency. Moreover, for a career politician who has sat in the Parliament of Canada for more than twenty years and who was part of Stephen Harper's Conservative government, Mr. Poilievre displays a surprising ignorance.
Indeed, the federal government has numerous and excessively significant financial obligations to ensure the well-being of the population and to support businesses throughout Canada. One need only to think of transfers to individuals (Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance), transfers to the provinces and territories (health transfers, equalization), transfers to municipalities (infrastructure), or spending on goods and services.
The federal government also has missions to fulfill that are of vital importance for our country: ensuring border and transportation security, public safety (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), rescue missions and the respect of our territorial sovereignty (Coast Guard), food inspection, public health, economic development here in Canada and abroad, environmental and wildlife protection, National Defense, Justice, Foreign Affairs and much more.
In order to meet all these obligations and properly fulfill all the responsibilities incumbent upon it, the federal government is financed by taxes collected from individuals and businesses.
And who collect these taxes: mainly the collection officers who work at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). These collectors not only recover unpaid income taxes for the federal government and most provinces, but also revenues from the Goods and Services Tax (GST). In addition, some of the CRA's collection officers also collect other non-income tax revenues such as Customs debts and other debts from government programs under the responsibility of other departments.
The work of the CRA's collection officers is demanding and difficult. They are not always popular and sometimes face taxpayers who are not very happy and do not always cooperate with them. On the other hand, their work is essential. It helps to collect the monies owed to the federal government so that it can carry out its missions and fulfill its obligations.
Our members are dedicated and work hard every day for the common good, for the Canadian population.
Instead of being arrogant and insulting towards our members who are collection officers, Mr. Poilievre should appreciate, recognize and respect the hard work done by the tax collectors of the Canada Revenue Agency.
In closing, I would also like to remind Mr. Poilievre that our members, collection officers, also help, through their work, to pay his salary as a Member of Parliament and leader of the Opposition, as well as his future pension.
Respectfully,
Marc Brière
National President
Union of Taxation Employees
CONTACT FOR THE MEDIA
Please contact Daniel Camara, Executive Assistant to the UTE National President, at (613) 290-1548, or by email at camarad@ute-sei.org for all media requests.