For a government agency to claim that they cannot disclose information for privacy reasons is not an excuse that is either acceptable or defensible today.
There have been enough reports revealing gaps in the system. Politicians need to heed the call for reform and immediately start addressing them.
Tinkering with one element of the terms and conditions of employment of public service employees while ignoring the need to evolve the basic service delivery model for Canadians will only lead to greater deterioration of support and confidence in the federal public service overall.