While the federal government’s return-to-office rules have been a point of contention for the last several months, with public service unions making lots of noise about the issue, many members of Parliament have been silent.
In hopes of learning where elected officials stood on the issue, the Ottawa Citizen reached out every MP who represents a riding in the National Capital Region, from Glengarry-Prescott-Russell to Hull-Aylmer, to ask them whether they supported the government’s return-to-office mandate. None gave a straight answer to the question.
The majority of the MPs declined to comment or did not respond to the request.
Geneviève Lemaire, the press secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jenna Sudds, who is also the MP for Kanata-Carleton, said in an email that the return-to-office mandate “was an administrative decision taken by the Treasury Board Secretariat, working with the Privy Council and deputy ministers from across government, who are supportive of this change – this was not a political decision.”
Philippe-Alexandre Langlois, from the office of Minister of Labour and Seniors Steven MacKinnon, an MP for Gatineau, shared previous comments from the minister which were that “we’re here to serve Canadians, the public, and any decision is made with a view to continue to offer good services. I’m proud of our public service.”
Experts say the return-to-office rules have put local politicians, particularly Liberal ones, in a predicament. Liberal MPs have been unable or unwilling to criticize a government policy, but also face angering a good chunk of their constituents who are public servants if hey vocally support the policy.
“Public servants make up a very significant portion of the electorate in the (seven to eight) Ottawa-area ridings held by Liberal MPs,” said Pierre Martel, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s School of Political Studies, in an email. “Local government-side MPs are in a difficult place, having to explain government policy on the matter while advocating for the many, and at times diverging interests of their constituents.”
With a looming federal election on the horizon, Martel said these MPs likely don’t want to alienate a portion of their constituents.
He added that MPs may prefer to “hide” by deflecting the matter to the Treasury Board.
“The current RTO policy edict by the Treasury Board has created many camps within and outside government,” Martel said. “It is a delicate balancing act with (many) perspectives. Establishing common grounds is challenging and will take time and experiments.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who represents the riding of Carleton, has also declined to weigh in on the issue.
When asked about the issue in May, Poilievre responded by criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the increased size of the public service and said “everyone should be working five days a week.” A staffer later clarified Poilievre’s comment was not about being “in-office” and that the Conservatives wanted the public service working five days a week, “as they already are.”
Martel said Poilievre may be abstaining from answering the question to avoid alienating “one group or the other.”
Many of his local constituents are public servants, but the wider electorate, and Poilievre’s base specifically, seems to have little sympathy for them.
Remote work is generally popular among Canadians, but that support for more flexible work arrangements doesn’t seem to extend to public servants. A poll conducted by Nanos Research last summer found that three out of four Canadians either supported or somewhat supported the government’s new requirement that public servants work in the office at least three days a week.
The issue could be a headache for local politicians in the next election, which must happen by Oct. 20 2025, as Ottawa is home to around 155,000 federal government employees, spread out over its ridings.
According to 2021 census data provided by Statistics Canada, 12,335 public servants live in Carleton, Poilievre’s riding. The ridings with the most public servants in them are Ottawa Centre (17,960), Orléans (17,475) and Pontiac (14,120).
While Liberal MPs and Poilievre have refused to take a firm stance on the federal government’s decision to increase its employees’ office presence, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has stated his opposition to the mandate. In October, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May wrote a letter to Treasury Board President Anita Anand calling for public consultations into the new policy which required many public servants to work in offices for at least three days a week as of Sept. 9.
The Ottawa South NDP has also launched a petition campaign which is supported by six Ottawa-area NDP riding associations including the Ottawa Centre NDP, the Ottawa West—Nepean NDP, the Orléans NDP, the Nepean NDP and the Ottawa—Vanier NDP. The Ottawa South NDP campaign is specifically focused on how the return-to-office changes have caused “out-of-control” traffic in the region.
“Politicians are making office workers drive to work to sit in online meetings all day, and that’s increasing commute times for nearly everyone in the city,” said riding association president Morgan Gay, in an email, noting that more than 1,000 people have signed the petition.
Many federal employees and unions have met the updated mandate with outrage, holding rallies, filing complaints and encouraging members to submit grievances. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the largest federal public sector union, has also filed a challenge of the new remote-work rules in Federal Court. PSAC has argued that government officials are “breaking their commitments and ignoring the voices of federal public service workers.”
Union leaders have also said that the decision was made without consultation and was unsupported by evidence, given that the Treasury Board did not complete any studies on collaboration or productivity.
“When federal employees went on strike last year, Jagmeet Singh and the NDP were the only major party out on the picket line supporting them,” said Gay, who noted that multiple NDP MPs have recently commented on the issue in the House of Commons. “I’m disappointed, but not surprised that Ottawa’s Liberal and Conservative MPs are silent.”