Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2012-2013 to 2014-2015

Message from the Chair

In its last few budgets, one of the Government of Canada's priorities has been to reduce government spending while continuing to provide quality services to Canadians. In response to this priority and to keep pace with technology and evolving taxpayer expectations and behaviours, the CRA has developed a long term strategic vision - Vision 2020 - which is an ambitious transformation agenda aimed at strengthening and modernizing how the CRA administers tax and benefits for Canadians.

Given the transformation agenda the CRA has set for itself, to ensure the continued success of the Agency, the Board's goal for the next three years is twofold: first, to ensure that the CRA has the robust framework it needs to support core program delivery and transformation; second, that sound management, monitoring and reporting practices are in place. To meet this goal, a key role of the Board will be to oversee the CRA's management of the transformative initiatives it will launch over the planning period. In doing so, the Board will assure itself that the CRA adopts an enterprise-wide management approach to transformation, including: a strong governance structure; comprehensive communication and human resources strategies; and the performance indicators needed to track and measure success.

It will be critical for the Board to assure itself that CRA services continue to meet the needs of Canadians, while remaining aligned with Vision 2020, which is to have Canadians deal with their tax matters on-line, when and how they choose; this will be possible through the CRA's use of technology. The Board will continue to focus on, and strive for excellence, in information technology (IT) initiatives designed to enhance the CRA's suite of self-service applications. Furthermore, given the government's recent creation of Shared Services Canada (SSC), the Board will monitor the service management model the CRA enters into with SSC to ensure the organization continues to be well served, with quality and cost effective IT infrastructure services.

The Board will also continue to provide oversight in all other areas for which it has statutory responsibilities. In this respect, it will work with CRA senior management to pursue enhancements to the Board of Management Oversight Framework to enable the Board to assess CRA management processes, practices, and results against a clear set of expectations.

Finally, I am confident that the open and productive relationship between the Board and senior management will help the CRA deliver its mandate and meet its ambitious transformation agenda. On behalf of the CRA Board of Management, I am pleased to recommend the CRA's Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2012 ‑ 2013 to 2014-2015 to the Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of National Revenue.

Susan J. McArthur
Chair, Board of Management

Date modified:

2012-05-11