Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
After years of talk about shedding office space, the federal government will need more work stations in some locations with public servants headed back to the office four days a week in July, according to an analysis by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).
The department responsible for managing government buildings is looking to quickly find solutions, which could include renewing existing leases, optimizing underused space and even acquiring extra office space if the current portfolio doesn’t meet the requirements, said spokesperson Michèle LaRose.
When asked by Radio-Canada if these potential acquisitions could mean purchasing space or buildings, PSPC declined to comment.
Nor did PSPC specify in which cities they might need to acquire extra office space.
While PSPC is working with government departments to define their operational needs, public service executives will have “no difficulty” reporting to the office five days a week starting May 4, Larose said.
Executives will be followed by all other employees, who will be required to work in the office four days a week starting July 6.
In cases where workplace adjustments are needed, “concrete solutions will be implemented quickly and responsibly,” wrote Laurent de Casanove, director of communications for Joël Lightbound, the minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, in a French-language statement.
Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound rises during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa earlier this month. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)July date still the plan
“As a taxpayer, it’s frustrating that the government is going to go spend money signing new leases, finding new space,” said Sean O’Reilly, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), a union that represents 80,000 public servants.
O’Reilly told Radio-Canada he’d prefer the government discuss how to provide a flexible hybrid work environment, especially now that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government has a majority and doesn’t need the support of other parties in Parliament.
Even so, O’Reilly also said he was “fearful” that with that majority, the Carney government “might be more heavy-handed with some of these policy decisions.”
In February, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat — the employer of the federal public service — did not deny that the date unionized employees need to return to work could be reviewed, particularly due to space issues.
But in recent days, secretariat spokesperson Martin Potvin has reiterated the government’s “intention” that those employees work on-site four days a week starting July 6.
Lightbound’s office, meanwhile, maintained that an increased workplace presence both strengthens collaboration between teams and improves the quality of services for the public.
PIPSC president Sean O’Reilly says he would prefer the government discuss ways to provide a flexible hybrid work environment. (Simon Lasalle/Radio-Canada)Will spaces be ready, union asks
For a decade, the federal government has been looking at different models, including telework, to reduce its office footprint, O’Reilly said.
He wondered what kind of conditions public servants will have if the government rushes to add more work stations.
“[Are] these spaces actually ready for people to work in?” he asked.
Lightbound’s office didn’t say whether the four-day-a-week return would force the government to revise its goals for reducing its office portfolio.
The government is still working to “modernize” its real estate portfolio by optimizing the use of space and reducing costs for taxpayers, wrote de Casanove.
In the 2024 budget, former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government committed to reducing its office portfolio by 50 per cent over 10 years, a move that was expected to reduce both costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
That same year, after reviewing how much space federal department and agencies would need, the government changed its target. It’s now expected to reduce its office space footprint by 33 per cent by 2033-2034.
This figure has not been revised since the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat announced its new return-to-office timeline in February.
On its website, PSPC said the shift to a “hybrid work environment” combined with “the government-wide plan to apply unassigned seating as the default” would let space be used more effectively.