With 60,000 workers expected back at the office full time in Ontario, unions claim there are overcrowded floors, shared desks and makeshift workspaces
Ontario’s full-time return-to-office (RTO) mandate for 60,000 provincial public servants is colliding with limited office capacity, thousands of accommodation requests and falling morale, according to unions.
The Doug Ford government has not signed any new leases or purchased additional real estate to support the full-time return, the Ministry of Infrastructure confirmed to CBC News, nearly two months after the RTO deadline took effect in early January.
A ministry spokesperson said that “at this time, no new leases or purchases have been initiated related to the OPS Return to Office mandate,” and that there had been “no reduction nor consolidation to office space related to the pandemic.”
The policy stems from an August 2025 announcement by Treasury Board President Caroline Mulroney that roughly 60,000 employees of the Ontario Public Service (OPS), provincial agencies, boards and commissions would “increase their attendance to four days per week” starting Oct. 20, 2025 and then move to full-time, five-day-a-week in-office work effective Jan. 5, 2026.
However, both the Ministry of Infrastructure and Treasury Board declined to provide details on “the number of workspaces available or whether additional space is needed,” according to a previous Global News report.
“We have reviewed all government office space, and the vast...
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