Most Canadians think the disastrous Phoenix pay system should be replaced within a year, according to a survey published Thursday and commissioned by one of the largest unions representing public service professionals.

The Environomics Research survey — commissioned by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada — asked Canadians: "What do you think is a reasonable time to wait for a replacement to the Phoenix pay system to be implemented?"

Given the choice between six months, one year or two years, 46 per cent said they think six months is reasonable. Another 30 per cent said one year was reasonable and 12 per cent said two years was reasonable.

The survey comes in the wake of the government's announcement that it has launched a procurement process to replace the current pay system which has sporadically overpaid, underpaid, or not paid employees at all since it was put in place in February 2016.

The union said Phoenix is still a problem for many public workers and that the government should act fast.

"We've already waited well over two years for a solution," said PIPSC President Debi Daviau, in the news release.

"Now that the government has committed to finding an alternative, it needs to speed up implementation of those alternatives. Our members can't wait another two years."

Daviau said there are replacement options already available to the government, including the Corporate Administrative System (CAS), a payroll software used by the Canada Revenue Agency and the Canada Border Services Agency.

"We believe the CAS system can be adapted and brought online much more quickly than the government's current and vague timelines for implementing an alternative system," said Daviau in the release.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents approximately 55,000 public service professionals across Canada, most of them employed by the federal government.

The public opinion survey by Environics Research was conducted by telephone among 1,000 Canadians between July 3 and 8, 2018. The margin of error is +/- 3.2%, 19 times out of 20.