Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government and municipalities across the province to require public servants to return to the office five days a week. Speaking in Inglewood, Ford praised the City of Ottawa’s recent decision to mandate full-time office attendance starting next year and urged other jurisdictions to “follow suit.”
“It’s time to bring people back to work, that they can be mentored, they can collaborate. It’s a lot easier looking at someone in the eye than sitting over a telephone or a computer screen,” Ford said.
Earlier this month, Ford announced that Ontario’s own civil servants would be back in the office full time by January. His comments align with a broader shift in the private sector, where major employers like RBC, Bank of Montreal, and Rogers have ramped up office requirements. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown also confirmed his city employees would return to in-person work next year.
Not everyone agrees with Ford’s push. Sharon DeSousa, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, called the move “regressive” and “out of touch,” arguing that remote work improves productivity and work-life balance. The union, alongside other federal groups, has launched a national campaign to protect telework, framing it as both a worker right and a benefit for Canadians relying on public services.
Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske noted that while remote work has proven effective, there is a growing appetite for in-person collaboration. She predicted remote work will remain a key bargaining issue as Ottawa negotiates contracts for more than 120,000 federal public servants.
Currently, federal employees are required to spend at least three days in the office, while executives must be there four. Unions argue the policy was imposed without consultation and undermines collective bargaining rights—a concern that fueled the 2023 public service strike.
With negotiations ongoing and political pressure mounting, the battle over how—and where—public servants work is once again at the forefront of Canada’s labour landscape.