24-05-2025
Carney's plan for digital government could find savings, but just as many headaches
OTTAWA — The federal government says its new online system for collecting import duties is a step forward for business because it streamlines the entire process.
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But for Marsha Sikma, a flower farmer in southwestern Ontario who imports thousands of dollars' worth of peony bulbs every year, the Canada Border Services Agency's new system has so far mostly just streamlined her frustration.
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Sikma, owner of MGS Florals Inc., about 25 kilometres south of Woodstock, Ont., says the government's old, mostly paper-based system seemed to work fine, with her import broker taking care of most of the red tape. The new online system, CBSA's Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) has left her trying to sort through a 10-page memo in her new portal and an import tax bill of $2,494.27.
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These are headaches you don't need when you're trying to run a 17-acre farm and managing a seasonal staff of up to 16. The most frustrating part, she says, was trying to get through to somebody on the phone without the system hanging up.
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'It just seems very difficult to get through to the right person,' said Sikma. 'As a small business, we don't have time to deal with that type of thing.'
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Despite those apparent frustrations, that type of online thing is exactly what all levels of government should be doing more of, technology industry officials and digital government advocates say. Investments in electronic government, artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital services can improve the efficiency and accessibility of everything from disaster response and fraud detection to voting and obtaining licences, permits and benefits, they say.
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But better services are only part of it. More digital should also mean savings for taxpayers at all levels of government, as Prime Minister Mark Carney argued during the election.
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On Wednesday, Carney released a single mandate letter for all his ministers and specifically mentioned using AI 'at scale' to help make the government more efficient.
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'Government itself must become much more productive by deploying AI at scale, by focusing on results over spending, and by using scarce tax dollars to catalyze multiples of private investment,' the letter reads.
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Viet Vu, the manager of economic research at the Dais, a Toronto-based think tank within Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), said investments in digital services could save Ottawa between 10 and 15 per cent — or between about $50 billion and $75 billion a year — on all federal government's expenses. Provincial and municipal governments could also reap a windfall if the digital investments are savvy.
