OTTAWA — A Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) report on federal service delivery to small businesses found that Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) received the highest level of dissatisfaction from small business owners.

Forty per cent of respondents rated the quality of service as “poor,” and 49 per cent rated timeliness as “poor,” despite the IRCC workforce increasing by 170 per cent since 2013.

By contrast, only 10 per cent of small businesses felt they received “good” service. The immigration department was among the five federal services reviewed by the CFIB.

“The delaying of being able to process foreign work permits really impacts the ability of some of our members to keep their doors open,” said Michelle Auger, CFIB director of trade and author

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