Last month, Premier Doug Ford ordered that Ontario Public Service employees will be required to work in office five days a week, starting in January 2026. The mandate’s announcement has so far created a stir of controversy amongst public service unions and optimism towards revitalizing Ottawa’s downtown core.
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.”
