QUESTION PERIOD — Public Services and Procurement
Phoenix Pay System
April 16, 2026
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
Senator Moreau, in late March, the Auditor General released a new audit on the Phoenix pay system. This was her fourth report on a multi-billion-dollar fiasco that caused employees major financial stress and serious pay problems, including delays, underpayments and sometimes no pay at all. This situation violates basic labour laws, including the right to receive payment for work performed.
According to Public Services and Procurement Canada’s preliminary estimate, the new system, Dayforce, will cost over $4.2 billion. That estimate doesn’t include the significant costs involved in transitioning all the departments and agencies to the new system. What guarantees are there that history won’t repeat itself and that the government isn’t heading in the same direction it took 10 years ago?
Senator Oudar, I was able to speak with the Auditor General directly the day before she released her report.
The government approached her preventively. It asked the Auditor General to immediately examine the new Dayforce platform to prevent a repetition of past mistakes made with Phoenix.
In her report, the Auditor General identified a few areas requiring immediate action, including clearing the entire backlog of outstanding pay transactions caused by Phoenix. She also recommended that the backlog be significantly reduced, by about 50%, before Dayforce is rolled out. This is exactly what the government is doing.
By working faster with the Auditor General in a preventive way, we are making sure that best practices are in place to ensure that Dayforce is a success, not a failure.
Okay.
One of the Auditor General’s recurring findings was that Phoenix was rolled out without sufficient pilot testing, despite the many warnings. Can the government confirm that Dayforce will be rolled out as a rigorous pilot project and phased in one department at a time, before it’s rolled out on a larger scale?
That’s an excellent question and an excellent suggestion. I can confirm that the government is phasing in the Dayforce program one department at a time, as you are suggesting. The same approach is being taken with government agencies, based on their levels of readiness. In terms of readiness, the government is ensuring that it stays in communication with the officials responsible for implementing Dayforce at each agency and department.
