As Ontario civil servants return to office full time, union calls order ‘ridiculous’

By Canadian Press on January 5, 2026.

TORONTO — Ontario government employees are expected to return to the office five days per week starting Monday, despite objections from public sector unions.

In August, Premier Doug Ford announced thousands of Ontario civil servants would return to the office full time by January, ending work-from-home and hybrid models that have persisted more than five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ford said it was time to bring people back to work so they can be mentored and collaborate.

Public servants have complained about the lack of office space to accommodate the workforce returning en masse.

Ford said Monday the province is “working on that” issue, but believes it will be sorted out.

“It’s great to get everyone back to work, like every other normal citizen, you go out there and you show up five days a week, and there’s arrangements if they can’t make it in, they’re going to have to work within the bureaucracy,” Ford said.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has said that the order was made “without consideration for the realities front-line public service workers face.”

Union president J.P. Hornick said the mandate is “ridiculous and insulting.”

“This seems to be a problem of the premier’s own imagination rather than something that is actively an issue on the ground,” said Hornick, whose union represents some 30,000 public sector workers and another 9,000 at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

There has been no deterioration in service due to remote work, Hornick said Monday in an interview.

“We have not seen any evidence and the premier has not provided any that would justify the return-to-office mandate,” Hornick said.

The union said about 10,000 of its 30,000 public servants have applied for alternative work arrangements that include requests made for medical reasons and caregiver concerns, given it’s difficult to find daycare spots even with several months’ notice.

“Not a single one of those has been addressed yet,” Hornick said.

Canadian Union of Public Employees members at Ontario Health atHome organized a provincewide day of action Monday to protest the return-to-office mandate, saying workers would take their lunch breaks on the street to demand a return to the hybrid model.

“Available office spaces have shrunk since 2019, which has resulted in an uneven application of the return to office mandate in the various regions across the province,” a news release from CUPE said.

“This not only impacts the staff who must provide these essential health services, but also the sick and injured Ontarians who rely on these services.”

Alberta’s public service is also returning to full-time in-office work in February to “strengthen collaboration, accountability and service delivery for Albertans,” a spokesperson for the Alberta government said.

It’s still not clear when federal public servants will have to increase their office presence, or by how much. Prime Minister Mark Carney promised last month that a plan would soon come into “sharper view.”

The current rule, in place since September 2024, requires federal public servants to work a minimum of three days a week in-office, with executives in the office four days per week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press