Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney said in a press statement that the decision behind the mandate “represents the current workforce landscape in the province and it reinforces our commitment to reflecting the people and businesses we serve across Ontario.”

Mulroney said that nearly half of Ontario’s public servants are already working in office, and by October, employees who have been attending for three days a week will gradually begin attending for four days as part of the transition.

However, the decision has not been met lightly by some unions representing public servants. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) expressed its disappointment about the lack of consultation before the Ontario government put the motion forward. They also pointed to how hybrid working models for some employees have “provided measurable benefits in productivity, retention, and well-being.”

“Unilateral decisions like this are a slap in the face to the very workers who kept the OPS running effectively throughout and after the pandemic,” OPSEU President JP Hornick said in the statement.

Michelle Groulx, chief advocate for the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas (OCOBIA), said in a statement that Premier Ford’s order to have public servants return to office is “only a small piece of a greater solution to any real downtown revitalization.”

“The impact of this may not be realized by Ottawa businesses, as the city already has 85 per cent of the workforce in the office.”

Meanwhile, a similar mandate was recently announced for City of Ottawa staff to resume working in office five days a week. In a memo sent by city manager Wendy Stephanson, the new mandate will “help strengthen the organizational culture and build confidence and trust in the city’s ability to continue to provide responsive and reliable service to the public.”

Kitchissippi Ward Councillor Jeff Leiper took to social media to express his disappointment in this recent decision, citing how a return to office mandate will increase traffic congestion, issues around affordability, and ongoing reliability issues with Ottawa’s transit system, OC Transpo.

“This is counter to the thrust of the kind of city that we’re trying to build, as described in our official plan,” he said in an interview with Ottawa Compass. 

Leiper highlighted the historical evolution of Ottawa’s suburbs and the impact of the pandemic lockdowns, noting the potential for remote work to improve community vibrancy. He noted that there have already been positive outcomes of this and that the recent mandate has countered the importance of decentralizing the city.

“I fail to understand how there is any positive benefit to requiring workers to come back to the office that outweighs the opportunity to build a city that has more complete and more self-sufficient communities without requiring long drives, and the quality of life impacts that this will have for people who are making, what I think, are unnecessary commutes.”

There could be potential for further exploration of the municipal act to understand any prohibitions on council involvement, he said.

OC Transpo’s struggle to handle large numbers of people returning to the office will also cause further complications, he added, arguing that asking people to return to the office without a robust transit system is a premature decision. So far, the upcoming LRT Line 1 East extensions are critical to improving downtown accessibility.

Leiper also discussed that a driving force behind revitalization would involve people living downtown, with new residential units and businesses adding to its vibrancy and sustainability.

“We can’t have a sustainable downtown if that sustainability depends on people driving long distances every day to spend their money downtown,” Leiper commented. “Downtown will be sustainable to the extent that there is a population base of people who live there who are using and consuming services, products, and amenities on a 24/7 basis.”

Groulx also stated that an all-day accessible customer base is vital for businesses to thrive.

“The pre-COVID mono-culture of a strictly ‘workplace’ area in our downtowns saw devastating impacts and effects on businesses,” she explained. “We have seen businesses that are located in non-workplace-dominated areas [that] have been thriving in comparison.”

With more workers returning to office, there will be a call for a greater demand in transit, childcare, affordable housing, parking, and other factors, said Mallory Clyne, the Ottawa Board of Trade’s (OBOT) director of advocacy and economic development. However, if these demands aren’t met or improved, it could cause challenges for employees who are transitioning back to the office. 

Having a safer space in downtown Ottawa that is free of open drug use and public disorder is another important factor. Back in 2024, the OBOT introduced the Downtown Ottawa Action Agenda, which highlights barriers and recommendations to revitalizing the downtown core. It has already been showing progress with greater traffic in the ByWard Market compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

However, revitalization needs to go “far beyond any workforce strategies,” Clyne said. 

“We can’t really afford to ignore this or the next generation of workers and what their demands are. So this is going to put a real pressure on each level of government to deliver on major issues.”

The post Back to office mandate for Ontario public servants receives praise and criticism towards revitalization plans appeared first on CompassNews.

Progress for Mental Health (PFMH) hosted their third edition of Project Saade, an initiative designed to fill backpacks with school supplies for underprivileged students just in time before the beginning of a new school year. PFMH once again teamed up with Providing Instruments for Excellence and the John Tavares Foundation to distribute backpacks across other parts of Ontario.

Brian Storseth, chairman and co-founder of PFMH, spoke about how much Project Saade has grown since it first began, with increased organization, volunteers, and reliance from organizations that benefit from the project.

“It really hit me at how powerful it is when you’re calling these organizations up, and how grateful they are,” he said. “[There are] eight organizations that are receiving, and they give out to another countless number of organizations.”

Christian Lapalme, superintendent of Franco-Cité and several other French-language public schools, was pleased to have the school grounds used by volunteers to facilitate the distribution: “The start of a school year is a costly one for most families, and if we can help out, that’s a great thing.”

PFMH’s Board Member and Secretary Amel Storseth is another one of the front-runners of Project Saade, which is named in honour of her brother. She shared her background of growing up in lower-income housing and the struggles that young kids face.

“The idea of giving back to other children that were kind of in my shoes is in coming full circle. That’s kind of what’s inspired me,” she reflected. “And honestly, my kids have inspired me… just showing them what it’s like to be a good, decent human being, to give to our communities and to give to people who are less fortunate than us.”

Over 1000 backpacks are distributed every year to different youth organizations in Ottawa, including the Boys and Girls Club, YouTurn Youth Support Services, and more.

Planning this type of fundraiser involves lots of preparation and communication, Storseth said. She and the mayor of Barrie, Alex Nuttall, collaborate by deciding on the quantities of backpacks and supplies needed, as well as ensuring that the types of supplies meet the standards for different age levels of students.

Nuttall expressed how getting involved with this event and representing the Barrie community every year is special to him. He also noted how not having access to school supplies can affect a student’s self-esteem in the classroom.

“As somebody who grew up in government housing without the utensils needed for school each and every year, I think this is a wonderful program, and I think there’s probably a lot more demand than people realize and need that goes unanswered.”

It’s also important to “invest in young people” early to give them confidence and support, he added, saying “that investment reaps massive dividends, not just for that individual, but for society as a whole.”

One of Project Saade’s partners this year, Meridian Credit Union, made a significant donation of $20,000. Two of Ottawa’s branch members, Andre Belanger and Spencer Pomeroy, were helping pack up backpacks that morning with the rest of the volunteers.

“We’re so pleased to be part of this,” said Belanger. He and Pomeroy emphasized the importance of how the cause reflects Meridian’s values.

“We’re a purpose driven financial institution, so we really do focus on giving back to the community,” Pomeroy said. “Helping kids get ready for school… that gives them a really strong foundation for financial competence for anything they want to do in the future.”

Amel Storseth hopes that Project Saade will help many children, whether it’s a few or a thousand, to focus on their education without worrying about lacking essentials. But, the other hopeful end goal for all of this teamwork is “putting more smiles on kids faces,” she said. 

The post Project Saade celebrates third year of distributing backpacks and confidence to students across Ontario appeared first on CompassNews.

During April’s Transit Committee meeting, River Ward Councillor Riley Brockington tabled a motion that passed unanimously stating that OC Transpo will present a “detailed plan on how bus reliability will meet or surpass the 85% performance target by December 2027” during their next meeting.

As a long-time advocate for better transit service, Brockington stated that he was motivated to present this motion due to performance targets not having been reached yet, as well as a lack of improvement in data over the years.

“Month after month that I review data we receive at the Transit Commission, there is zero improvement,” he said. “The data has been flat for literally years.”

Brockington also presented a similar motion back in 2019 to have OC Transpo reintroduce their regular performance reports. They were put on hiatus in 2014 due to the construction of the LRT’s Confederation Line which impacted many bus routes and made data incomparable.

“We had, as transit commissioners, extremely little quantities of data or metrics being provided to us during the construction phase… I wanted to get us back into being provided these high-level stats to see how the system was functioning and meeting the needs of our passengers.”

Some of the root causes of OC Transpo’s unreliability issues include traffic gridlock, increased traffic volumes post-COVID, and the impact of construction and weather. Brockington also described how this results in a “domino effect” of bus delays, and that there needs to be better infrastructure such as advanced lights and intersections for improvement.

He hopes to also debate new bus corridors and bus-dedicated lane infrastructure to address these challenges. Brockington also hopes to discuss the challenges of delivering new e-buses due to high demand later this year.

Nick Grover, Climate Change Organizer at Ecology Ottawa, was a delegate in support of Brockington’s motion and emphasized the need for accountability from OC Transpo. He also highlighted the need to clearly define what is meant by “reliability,” as there have been inconsistent uses of the term confusing the public.

Grover explained that the term can often be referred to as service delivery and that this use needs to be consistent.

“A bit less ambitious of a definition would be it sticks to its schedule,” he said. He also pointed to a report published last year about how 40 per cent of major routes are late by more than five minutes, mostly due to traffic.

Some potential solutions he urges the Transit Committee and City Council to prioritize are Bus Rapid Transit and bus lanes. This implementation could not only reduce traffic but also encourage ridership.

Currently, Strong Towns Ottawa is advocating for bus lanes along Bank Street to reduce traffic and have them also be used as bike lanes. However, the consultation process for this has been delayed, Grover said.

“A lot of the cities that we’re seeing doing well on transit recovery – Brampton, Toronto, Vancouver – they’re going all in on bus lanes, and it would really help us,” he said. “It would make such a big difference for transit service.”

While “New Ways to Bus” has been implemented since April, Brockington said that proof of this system impacting reliability will be in the stats. He mentioned the impact of the Trillium line opening in January and the subsequent discontinuation of local buses. The theory behind these changes, he explained, was to help increase bus fleet capacity and improve reliability over the long term.

“We should, in the data, see an upward improvement on reliability. If it doesn’t, then we’re in trouble from a reliability point of view.”

Brockington said that the report’s timing is deliberate as it will be released during budget discussions for 2026, ensuring that resources are allocated to address reliability issues. He emphasized the importance of tracking data to understand ongoing issues and the need for continued transparency.

“It’s all lined up on purpose. I know some folks may be disappointed with the timelines they want to see release[d] immediately, but you need the report [and] you need staff to acknowledge the challenges,” he said. “That’s why I’m going to keep pushing.”

The post Upcoming report on OC Transpo reliability plan to provide transparency amid ongoing service issues appeared first on CompassNews.