Ottawa MPs inundated with pleas from Phoenix victims

Susan Skaarupis one of the thousands of federal government workers caught upin the stressful, ugly confusion caused by the failure of the Phoenix pay system.

• Phoenix and the government's creative accounting
• Chaos in the pay centre is anyone's pay right?

Skaarup'spersonal nightmare began in August 2016 when theDepartment of National Defence employeewas overpaid tens of thousands of dollars. Then, thanks toimproper tax filings by her department, she was overpaid by the Canada Revenue Agency.

When the Phoenix system attempted to correct the error, she was first underpaid, then stopped receiving her salary altogether.

Skaarup'spatience finally ran out when pay centre employees withdrew money directly from her payroll account. That's when she turned to her Member of Parliamentin a last-ditch attempt to get her messresolved.

"It keeps me awake at night," saidSkaarup. "I was hoping with the member of Parliament putting pressure on the minister, something might be done."

MPsinundated with pay complaints

Skaarup'snot alonein seeking out help from her elected representative.

A large number of public servants, especially in the National Capital Region where the federal government is the biggest employer, are likewise turning to theirMPsin the hopes of getting their pay problems resolved.

ForSkaarup, it hasn't worked.

They're still worried, and they have a right to be worried, because they deserve the right pay.- MP Karen McCrimmon

"There's been no help from Karen McCrimmon's office," shesaid.

McCrimmon, the Liberal MPfor Kanata-Carleton, said her office is becoming inundated with thebroad spectrum of Phoenix complaints pouring in from constituents.

"They're still worried, and they have a right to be worried, because they deserve the right pay," saidMcCrimmon, who added her office is trying to triage the glut of files to deal with what she calls the"hardship, duress cases" first.

As dire as Skaarup's situation is, it appears she hasn'tmade thatlist yet, indicating there are others worse off.

'It's been a disaster'

In Orlans, a suburb densely packed with federal public servants, MP Andrew Lesliesaid his office has staffers who are now dedicated to sorting out Phoenix calls.

"It's been a disaster. It's been painful progress," said Leslie. "We continue to raise pressure on us, the government, to do all it can to fix it."

That pressure from her caucus colleagues meansMinister of Public Servicesand Procurement Canada Carla Qualtroughis now getting it from all sides.

Conservative MPPierre Poilievresaid his riding office in south Ottawais also being bombarded with requests from constituents for help with pay issues.

"We're pressuring the governmentto solve it as soon as possible," said Poilievre. "At any given time we have dozens of active cases. My case worker deals with problems related to Phoenix every day."

Putting politics aside

While it was the previousConservative government that set the stage for Phoenix and hired the contractors to build it, Poilievre is quick to note it was the Liberals who "pulled the trigger" to mobilize the new pay system before it was ready.

Poilievre said he's willing to put politics aside to work with the government to solve individual cases for his constituents.

"I do congratulate the minister for having a staffer who answers phone calls when we place them. But I'd respectfully suggest we need more support for MPs to solve the problems of constituents related to Phoenix,"Poilievre said.

"I would encourage Minister Qualtrough and other ministers to perhaps dedicate a unit of public servants who'll respond to concerns brought forward by Members of Parliament," said Poilievre. "It might be one simple way to expedite some of the problems that public servants are having."

GatineauMP Steve MacKinnon, parliamentary secretary tothe minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, said hereceives a"pretty steady volume" of callsfrom both constituents andothers across Canada who are looking to speak directly to a representative from the department.

MacKinnonsaid catastrophic or urgent cases are brought to the attention of the department first, but he understands the patience of everyone affected by Phoenix is being tested.

"If I were in some of these situations I would also be impatient," MacKinnonsaid. "We understand all that, it helps to animate and fuel our motivation to get this problem solved."

While she waits for that to happen, Susan Skaaruphas had to put travel and retirement plans on hold. She realizes it could take months or even years forher pay, benefits, pension deductions and taxes to return to normal.