By Kevin Sorenson, M.P., Battle River-Crowfoot
My column for the week of June 14 was about the Auditor General of Canada’s (AG) unprecedented message on the “broken government culture” and the Clerk of the Privy Council (PCO), Michael Wernick’s appearance before the Public Accounts Committee to respond. As I said in that previous column, I would follow-up to provide readers with the AG’s reaction to the clerk’s rejection of the report or what he called an “opinion piece.”
On June 19, appearing before the committee, AG Michael Ferguson, as usual, maintained his professionalism and began by expressing his respect for PCO Clerk Wernick and the opinions he expressed. Mr. Ferguson, however, stood by his assertion that the culture within the public service needed to change or we would have repeated “failures” such as Phoenix. The AG said “Mr. Chair, as I understand it, the clerk referred to my message as an opinion piece. He is correct. The message does express my opinion that we need to find the root cause of the Phoenix project failure and other incomprehensible failures. It is an opinion piece based on my almost seven years as Auditor General of Canada; 40 years of performance audits by our office; and the fact that all of the Government’s controls did not prevent the Phoenix failure from happening.”
In describing certain aspects of the government culture he felt contributed to Phoenix, he acknowledged that many people may disagree with him and differ on what, if any change, is needed. He was not offended by opposition as his main intent was to get a conversation started “about the culture of government.”
While being cautious about laying blame for the Phoenix mess, the AG did say that it has “tarnished the reputation of the Federal Government both at the political level and at the civil servant level.” He was also very clear in his belief that the Phoenix pay system was not ready to be launched in February 2016, especially given the red flags raised in the Gartner Report: a report that was commissioned by the Treasury Board Secretariat after many concerns were expressed about the readiness of the pay system.
In his report, the AG pointed out numerous deficiencies including: ”Public Service and Procurement Canada( PSPC) did not fully engage departments and agencies during the development of Phoenix; PSPC did not help other departments and agencies fully understand what they would need to do to use Phoenix; PSPC did not share a complete list of functions with departments; PSPC did not share information on outstanding Phoenix security and privacy risks; the Deputy Minister did not receive independent information showing that Phoenix was not ready to be implemented or that the Miramichi Pay Centre and departments and agencies were not ready for Phoenix; and Phoenix executives did not heed clear warnings that the Miramichi Pay Centre, departments and agencies, and the pay system itself were not ready.”
While the findings of the AG are extremely important, especially if we are to prevent similar disasters, right now, my office and I are seized with helping all those experiencing pay issues. We currently have 46 open files we are working on and many, many more have been brought to resolution. The following is a very small sample of what stressed public servants living in Battle River-Crowfoot are saying to us:
“I’ve had so many problems with my pay I don’t know where to begin. I have no idea if anyone at the Phoenix system has a clue as to how to solve the problems.”
“I cannot do this again as now they are taking my entire cheque and garnishing all the way back to June for no reason. Please help me, this is completely unacceptable and I cannot support my family without my financial contribution.”
“I am unable to budget adequately. I don’t know how much of the money that I receive will eventually be returned to the employer.”
“I knew I was going to have problems, but I didn’t think that seven months later I would be working full time and still no pay. This is taking a toll on my mental well-being. I don’t think I can take this much longer.”
“Our current government has failed to meet their obligations to its public service employees by creating unnecessary hardship in their lives by implementing a system which was not ready to be used not once, but in two separate phases. My question is why?”
“I am outraged that an inmate can contact our CIE department and have their pay dealt with in a matter of days and I have no outlet. It seems very unfair……I feel very helpless and that is not a good feeling especially when it comes to your livelihood and family.”
It is time to really focus on correcting these pay problems while preventing this from ever happening again. I am confident we can do both at the same time.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this or previous columns you may write me at 4945-50th Street, Camrose, Alberta, T4V 1P9, call 780-608-4600, toll-free 1-800-665-4358, fax 780-608-4603 or e-mail Kevin.Sorenson.c1@parl.gc.ca.