Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his kind words and his speech.
First, we agree on one thing, probably. It is completely unacceptable that federal government employees are not getting paid what they are owed. Public servants deserve much better. As the member for Gatineau, it goes without saying that many of my constituents were directly affected by the failures in this system. We are living this every day and I am listening to them very closely.
I want to come back to a few things the member across the way said. First, the Phoenix problems did not start in February 2016. They started when the previous government banked on saving $70 million, put that money in the budget as though it were a done deal, and dismissed hundreds of pay advisors. The previous government left us in this unacceptable situation without the former pay system. We had to trust the development of the Phoenix system. We had no choice but to implement it.
Although we did not cause this, we have accepted the responsibility for fixing the problems caused by the previous government. We take these problems very seriously. We are working hard to help federal employees and to resolve their pay issues. That is why timely processing of pay requests is a top priority for the Department of Public Services and Procurement. I am proud to be the parliamentary secretary for that department.
The goal is to process pay requests in accordance with the established service standard, which is 20 days for most changes, based on when the requests arrive at the Public Service Pay Centre.
This is what has been done. The backlog of cases is 7,000, and not 12,500 as claimed by the member, and as it clears the Public Service Pay Centre compensation advisors are assigned to process new requests. Reassigning resources means that pay requests are processed more quickly, wait times are reduced, and late payments are resolved. Requests for parental leave and disability are the priority, as requested by the unions.
With more resources and increased efficiency at the pay centre, government employees will notice that their pay transactions are being handled much faster.
Finally, new transparency measures, a lot more transparency measures than were contemplated under the previous government, are being introduced to keep employees informed of the progress being made. Starting very soon, monthly information about pay performance will be posted online. This will let employees see how well the pay centre is meeting its service standards.
Finally, as tax season approaches, there is an added focus on addressing overpayments so that employees' earnings are reported as accurately as possible.
Employees are being reminded to call the call centre to ensure that any overpayments are handled as a priority.
With more resources and increased efficiency at the pay centre, government employees will notice that their pay transactions are being handled much faster. Employees will also soon have access to detailed information online about all payments they received in 2016. This will help them verify whether the taxable earnings stated on their tax slips are correct.
We continue to work closely with all our partners, the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Treasury Board Secretariat. The department also continues to work with the unions on several issues in order to help them solve pay problems.
Our government is aware of the important—