Debates of Jan. 29th, 2018

Public Services and Procurement

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his questions.

I am pleased to inform the House of the progress we have made on overpayments. The government wanted to give priority to overpayments made to public servants in 2017, in order to avoid the problems that might arise from inaccurate T4s.

In a more general context, we know that we are trying the patience of public servants and the public in general. Again, I want to assure public servants and all Canadians who are watching that the government is assigning all the staff necessary to resolve the problems associated with the Phoenix pay system. We are of course working together with our employees and public service union partners. When the Phoenix pay system is stabilized, this will have been done for and by our public servants.

There is a window for the overpayments. If an overpayment made in 2017 is processed in January, the employee will receive a correct T4. If public servants report an overpayment or if they are identified by the system as having received an overpayment within this window, they will receive a correct T4. Otherwise, an amended T4 will automatically be sent to the Canada Revenue Agency, and the employee's tax return will automatically be updated. This makes it easier on the employee.

Unfortunately, as my colleague surely knows, deductions, such as the Quebec Pension Plan, the Canada Pension Plan, and employment insurance belong to the employee. Departments cannot collect or reclaim these deductions, which is why the gross amount must be paid back to the government.

We know there is a problem, and to fix it, we will only be asking employees to repay the overpayment as of July 1, 2018. Furthermore, there will be a reimbursement plan with very generous terms for employees to repay the money. Employees will have time to receive the refund of the taxes they are owed, and then to plan and budget the repayment.

We know that this is not ideal, which is why we wanted to focus on and prioritize the overpayments at the beginning of 2018. A large number of public servants have reported overpayments, but we had already identified some of them. We are making a lot of progress to prevent the problem my hon. colleague described.

I thank him for his comments. I would be happy to continue discussing potential solutions with him.

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Madam Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his remarks, although I know that he did not really answer the questions that I raised. Therefore, I want to provide him with another opportunity to enlighten the House as to how many overpayments were reported by the January 19 deadline, and to give us some sense as to whether or not they are being processed successfully.

I would also like to raise the possibility of a remission order to ensure that federal public servants do not have to pay income tax on Phoenix overpayments. If the government is confident that the system will work as smoothly as the parliamentary secretary suggests and that public servants will not be on the hook, then surely it should be willing to issue this remission order to make sure that is the case.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to make one thing very clear to all the public servants and Canadians who are tuning in: all public servants will be paid the money they are owed, the money they have earned.

I am personally committed to ensuring that all public service employees receive what they are owed, and I am going to make sure that happens.

Naturally, in the case of overpayments processed after the early January deadline, we need to ask for the gross amount back. We are instituting very generous repayment conditions for employees.

I am not in a position to answer the member's question specifically, given that we have received reports from a large number of public servants. However, in many cases, we had already identified them. To avoid duplication, I would ask my colleague to be patient. We will make sure the information gets out. I can assure you that we are working on it.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Carol Hughes]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:18 p.m.)