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Public Services Minister Judy Foote says the Phoenix pay crisis could have been avoided if the federal government had kept the 700 compensation advisers who were laid off before the new payroll system was up and running.

Foote told MPs on the Commons government operations committee Tuesday that the Phoenix project was flawed, poorly planned and executed, but that one of the reasons the rollout of the new system was doomed because so many of the experienced staff who understood the government’s complex and arcane pay rules were let go.

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“Pay transformation was compromised as soon as the decision was taken to eliminate the jobs of some 700 compensation staff before we had transitioned to Phoenix,” Foote said.

“Had we kept those jobs longer, we would not be in the situation we are in today.”

Foote, the minister responsible for the government’s payroll system, was grilled by MPs about the ill-fated Phoenix project in her first committee appearance since the government missed its own Oct. 31 deadline to clear the thousands of pay problems that have affected 82,000 public servants.