Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Government leader, 99.8% of businesses are small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMEs. SMEs drive Canada’s economy by employing 88.3% of Canada’s private labour force and accounting for more than half of the nation’s GDP.

Healthy SMEs are vital in any post-pandemic recovery plan, yet at this critical time, the Canada Revenue Agency is putting undue stress on businesses by taking almost a year on average to complete audits.

What is the government doing to address the delays at the CRA?

Senator Martin: More than half of Canada’s businesses, 55.3%, have fewer than four employees. Many are family-owned and -operated. While these families struggle to keep their doors open, they are also dealing with rising costs due to inflation and tax increases. Now they must wait for a year on average to have their CRA small business audits completed. This is causing unnecessary stress for owners of small businesses across Canada. If resources are a problem at the agency, what plans does the government have to address this?

So this is a really dire issue, senator.

Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): I really don’t know specifically what the government may be doing with regard to CRA delays on audits. Thank you for the question, and I will certainly look into it. I won’t take up time to underline and agree with you how important small business is for the economy, not only post-pandemic but 12 months a year, year in, year out.