Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we are very concerned about the uncertainty being caused among public servants by the Phoenix system and I can truly empathize with them. We are doing all we can in terms of governance and partnerships. We are fixing the technology and working with the unions. I can

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, Davie shipyard is an important shipyard. We recognize that it has experienced workers, who did excellent work in delivering the Asterix. After consultations with the industry, the Government of Canada started discussing options with Davie shipyard to see whether it c

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, the Davie shipyard is a major shipyard and we recognize the expertise of its workers. They did an excellent job delivering the Asterix. I have had positive and productive meetings with Davie shipyard's management and unions. We have started discussing options with D

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, of course, I am happy to share that award with the previous government. It was the previous government, of course, that treated the Phoenix pay system as a cost-cutting measure instead of the massive enterprise-wide initiative that it was. We are doing, step by step

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on the motion put forward in the name of the hon. member for Jonquière. I thank the hon. member for her initiative, which gives us all an opportunity to discuss this very important issue with respect to the problems with the

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, make no mistake. The choice that our government faced was not between going to a new system and keeping the old system; it was a new system or no system. At that point, we forged ahead and very quickly realized what we were dealing with. With respect to the questio

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I can assure everyone that when Phoenix was implemented, the 40,000-case backlog existed because there was no other choice but to move forward with that pay system at the time. There was simply nothing to go back to and we did not have people to run it, even if there

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, with respect to collective agreement implementation, it was a very exciting time for our government in making good on our promise to work with public servants, to renew our relationship with unions, and to negotiate long outstanding collective agreements. We negotiat

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member that this was an unequivocal disaster and a bomb that was left to us by the former government. We have to understand the scope. It is imperative to understand that the contract with the provider was extremely narrow in scope, and we have bee

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, of course we sincerely apologize to public servants for everything we have put them through as a government. It is unacceptable that these public servants, who continue to come to work and work on behalf of all Canadians, are not being paid regularly. We are leaving

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we certainly have the utmost respect for our public servants, certainly more than the previous government, that is for sure. We had a choice in February 2016, and let me tell the House what that was. We had a choice between the new system or no system. The previous

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for everything he is doing for workers at the Davie shipyard. Workers at the Davie shipyard did excellent work on the Asterix. We have needs beyond the icebreakers. We are working and negotiating with Davie to meet these needs. When we have

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, Davie is a major shipyard and we are still in talks with its representatives. We are exercising due diligence, and we will inform the House once we have made a decision.

Official Languages  Mr. Speaker, our government takes its official languages responsibilities very seriously. These poor translations are unacceptable. We expect good-quality French to be used on Public Services and Procurement Canada's websites. Our government recognizes the importance of communica

Public Services and Procurement  Mr. Speaker, we are continuing our discussions with Davie to meet the Coast Guard's need for icebreaker services. We will inform the House when those discussions and negotiations are complete, but right now we are looking at the numbers and working with Davie.