Modernizing the Pay System
Ottawa, ON – Stephanie Kusie, Conservative Shadow Minister for Treasury Board and the King’s Privy Council, and Kelly Block, Conservative Shadow Minister for Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, released the following statement on the planned transition from the failed Phoenix pay system to the Dayforce pay system for federal public servants:
“Today’s report from the Auditor General shows that the Liberals still haven’t fixed issues that continue to plague the Phoenix pay system ahead of the transition to the Dayforce system. While the new system is estimated to cost $4.2 billion, that estimate does not include all costs needed for departments and agencies to fully implement the system.
“Ten years after the failed implementation of the Phoenix system, core lessons that should have been learned from its failure have yet to be implemented. The report found that the Liberals’ failure to implement lessons would result in additional costs, and that projects the size of Dayforce have a ‘high risk of exceeding their cost estimates, timelines, or both.’
“Additionally, the AG found that existing – and well-documented – pay issues surrounding the Phoenix pay system continue across federal departments, with over 233,000 backlogged transactions affecting more than 133,000 federal public servants. Equally concerning is that more than 66 per cent of those transactions have been backlogged for over a year as of September 2025.
“Despite the large number of existing problems, Public Service and Procurement Canada has accelerated the schedule to onboard all departments and agencies to Dayforce by three years to March 2031.
“The Liberals have had ten years to learn from the disastrous implementation of the Phoenix pay system, yet the Auditor General still found multiple risks remain. Conservatives will work to ensure the accurate and proper transition from a broken and inaccurate pay system to one that ensures that our federal public servants receive the pay and benefits that they deserve accurately and on time.”