Mr. Speaker, the Phoenix payroll system started as an ill-conceived Conservative scheme to cut corners and cut costs by replacing complex federal payroll systems with off-the-shelf software from IBM. However, it was the Liberal government that rushed ahead with the implementation of Phoenix despite many warnings of problems and deficiencies with the system. The result is that many thousands of federal employees, delivering important public services across the country, have not been paid the money they have earned.
The question I posed on February 23 was about inaccurate information on T4 tax slips sent to employees who had been incorrectly paid by the Phoenix system. The government has assured us that it is on the verge of correcting those T4s. Therefore, I take the government's word at face value. Rather than questioning whether it will meet that objective, let us wait and see.
I would instead like to use this adjournment debate to update the House on some of the work my constituency office is doing to assist people who have fallen victim of the Phoenix pay system.
Also on February 23, while I was asking a question in the House, my casework assistant in Regina was hosting a conference call of all the caseworkers among NDP MP offices across the country to educate them on how to deal with Phoenix problems and to share best practices between offices. Of course it was through my constituency office that I first became aware of problems with the Phoenix pay system. Employees of the RCMP depot in Regina phoned to complain they were not receiving the pay they had earned.
I know one of the great frustrations experienced by my own casework assistant and by caseworkers in MP offices across the country is that they really do not have the tools to assist people who are not getting paid by Phoenix. One of the constructive proposals they came up with through this conference call on February 23 was to establish an MP phone line, a dedicated line, to the Phoenix pay centre in Miramichi. We have these dedicated lines for employment insurance. We have had them in the past for passports. We have them when we recognize that sometimes people will have problems with federal programs and services and may need their member of Parliament's office to assist them. I would argue that the Phoenix pay system is certainly a large enough problem that a dedicated line would very much be justified in this case. It has been more than a year since Phoenix was implemented and it is still a huge problem.
The deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement came to our committee today and stated that we had now reached the important tipping point where we were starting to process more transactions than we received. Therefore, it may be that the government is finally starting to reduce rather than increase the size of the Phoenix problem. However, if it has taken a year to even get to that tipping point, it suggests that it may take a great deal longer to get to a point where the problem is actually resolved. In the meantime, it would make a lot of sense to provide a dedicated phone line so MP offices and our staff are able to provide tangible assistance to constituents who have fallen victim to the Phoenix boondoggle.