Today's letters: Return to work means returning to traffic chaos in Ottawa

Saturday, Sept. 14: Is forcing public servants back to the office for three days really worth the traffic jams, pollution and wasted time for everyone? Readers share their views. You can write to us too at [email protected]

Published Sep 14, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  10 minute read

You try getting across town now that public servants are expected to be in their offices three days a week. Photo by Julie Oliver /POSTMEDIA

Getting across Ottawa practically impossible

Yesterday, I spent four hours on the Queensway. I had to get my husband from past Kanata to the Montfort Hospital for a morning surgery. It took 1.5 hrs to get there because of an accident on the Queensway, then 45 minutes to get home. At the end of the day, it took another hour to pick him up and 1.25 hrs to get home in rush hour.

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All this crawling along the Queensway, spewing carbon emissions, so the federal government can force workers back into offices, with a light rail system that’s completely unreliable, to a desk they no longer have, to coworkers they can’t find, so they can open their laptops and have a Zoom call with those coworkers.

What century are we in again?

Gail Dawson, Kanata

Give public servants a carrot, not a stick

If the federal government wants to get past this currant impasse with its public servants over returning to the office three times a week, it should use a “carrot” instead of a “stick” approach.

Having to go into an office as opposed to working from home has a cost. The Treasury Board should offer a financial benefit to those who have to come into work. An extra $20 a day to cover the added expenses for transit, meals, clothing upkeep, etc. could incentivize public servants to return. Capping the benefit to match the three day/week goal (i.e. a maximum of $60 a week) would keep the outlay to a reasonable level.

J.A. Summerfield, Winchester

Were public servants really so efficient at home?

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As a retired federal public servant, I am disappointed at the resistance of public servants to return to the office for a third day each week. The unions representing federal workers are demanding that the government provide evidence to back up this decision.

There’s one statistic that has not appeared in the public discourse on this issue. If remote work by federal employees working has been as effective and efficient as everyone claims, then why has the federal public service needed to hire 22 per cent more people since 2020, when public servants started working from home?

Yes, according to the government, the number of federal employees increased from 213,176 in 2020 to 282,152 in 2024. The population of Canada only increased by 7.9 per cent over that same time (38 million in 2020, 41 million in 2024).

As federal employees begin working 20 per cent more of their week at the office, I would suggest that being able to work even two days a week from home is a privilege, not an entitlement. Most of your fellow Canadians don’t have that same privilege.

Also, your fellow Canadians don’t have the same job security or salary or benefits or working conditions that we public servants enjoy — both while we are working, and after we retire.

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Nancy Pawelek, Ottawa

PSAC ‘boycott’ showed union’s true colours

Re: Union backtracks from downtown business boycott after backlash, Sept. 12.

Congratulations, Public Service Alliance of Canada. For Ottawa citizens who were on the fence about your beef with the federal government about returning to the office, your recent actions have made the choice simple. You really don’t care about anyone or anything other than yourselves and your comfort.

Didn’t your members recently receive a generous pay raise? Don’t you have a defined benefits pension plan? Paid holidays and sick leave?

Most of you signed on to work five days a week in an office. Now you complain about being asked to work three days a week in an office. If a future government decides to look at efficiencies and program changes that might affect staffing levels, don’t expect the citizens of Ottawa to rise up in your support. You have demonstrated that you don’t deserve it.

Cyril Jennings, Orléans

Time to put Ottawa’s toilets on the map

Re: Where to go when you’ve gotta go, Sept. 10.

In the grand tour of human existence, we all share a singular, universal experience: the desperate, often frantic search for a public washroom. And nowhere, it seems, is this more pertinent than in downtown Ottawa. Visitors, eager to bask in the grandeur of Canada’s capital, are forced into a scavenger hunt, where public toilets are as elusive as political consensus.

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It is said that New Zealand and Japan have mastered the art of the public restroom with their abundance of gleaming and accessible facilities. Ottawa, on the other hand, seems to have taken a different tack: offering a more “exclusive” experience. The good folks at ‘Gotta Go Ottawa’ have courageously taken up arms in the battle for free, clean and secure public toilets. They believe, perhaps optimistically, that a world-class city should cater to the most basic needs of its people, rather than forcing them to assess the cleanliness of a back alley or a shrubbery’s level of privacy.

Rumour has it there are hidden toilets scattered around downtown Ottawa obscured among municipal buildings unlocked only during the sacred hours of nine to five. And what of the signage, you ask? Well, why spoil the adventure? Ottawa’s current toilet infrastructure seems to cater to those with a keen sense of direction, a sharp eye for people going in and out of unmarked doors, and an unwavering bladder. It is without question a test of endurance and wit.

If Ottawa truly wishes to ascend the ranks of world-class cities, it must accept this hard truth: no city can be truly great if its citizens and visitors alike are left pondering their next move when nature calls. After all, civilization itself hinges on the accessibility of toilets; just ask the Romans, who knew better than to hide their latrines in plain sight. Hey Ottawa, it’s time to put our toilets on the map, literally.

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Dono Bandoro, Ottawa

Just sell off those federal buildings, now

Re: Federal government to use 22 properties in Ottawa for housing, Aug. 26.

Well over four years have passed since the start of COVID, which began a chain reaction of significant changes to our downtown core. And although federal public servants have returned to the office in greater frequency, the challenges impacting downtown are many.

The Downtown Ottawa Action Plan, presented by the Ottawa Board of Trade in May, identifies five priorities to rejuvenate the core, one of which is to prioritize housing, as the report states, to engage in “streamlining processes to increase downtown residency through higher density and use of public land.”

The federal government has announced the largest disposal plans for federal buildings in its history, saying it wants to turn many of those buildings into residential housing. Given that the average disposal process for a federal building is nine years — in addition to time and cost to convert and renovate an office building in to a residential building — the focus should be to immediately sell these buildings.

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By doing so, the federal government can realize immediate cash and direct those funds to shovel-ready housing projects. This would be a much faster way to get needed housing built.

It is a dream to think that office buildings can be converted with ease. It is not impossible, but has a set of complexities. Sell these buildings now. The private sector will either use them as intended, as office towers, or repurpose them.  Either way, the private sector will decide and brand new housing can be built with the monies realized from the sale of these properties.

I agree with the majority of recommendations in the Action Plan, but we are in a critical housing and homelessness emergency, which includes an affordability crisis. The top priority is to increase an assortment of housing now, not within a decade.

Riley Brockington, city councillor, River Ward; Chair, Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee, City of Ottawa

Don’t follow Ottawa’s mayor off a fiscal cliff

Re: ‘It’s not fair at all’: City facing tough choices to shore up transit budget, Sept. 11.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe keeps pointing fingers at other levels of government for the operating deficit that the city (and especially OC Transpo) faces. But this elides his own role in digging this budgetary hole.

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He points to Toronto’s deal with the province and its support for transit operations. Ottawa negotiated its own deal with the province in March. It contains many hundreds of millions for roads and highways, but not a dollar for transit operations. Nobody forced Sutcliffe or the city to sign a deal without transit funding; the missed opportunity is theirs.

Similarly, nobody is forcing Sutcliffe to stick to his property tax hike promise: a paltry 2.9 per cent at a time when other cities are responding to similar budgetary pressures with hikes two or three times that size. His low-tax promises were financially infeasible when he made them, and they’re financially infeasible now.

Council isn’t obliged to follow him over the fiscal cliff. If councillors care at all about the quality of this city’s services and transit, they shouldn’t.

Cameron Climie, Ottawa

Credit for my good garbage practices?

Re: Throw out your garbage now, before it costs you, Sept. 10.

Columnist Bruce Deachman reminds us that the ludicrous three-bag rule is coming into effect at the end of the month. I have a backyard compost bin and all vegetable bits go in that. I am diligent about using the blue bin and black bin. Same goes for the green bin. What I’m usually left with to go in the garbage is a small kitchen garbage bag every two weeks. I am hard-pressed to fill a regular full-size garbage bin.

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I guess that means I will be getting a credit of two bins for most collection weeks. Right?

Daniel Miller, Ottawa

Doug Ford’s priorities sure don’t reflect ours

Re: Penned dog hunting is back in Ontario, and it’s dangerous for animals and people, Sept. 3.

Am I the only person who has an issue with what appear to be Premier Doug Ford’s government priorities?

Penned dog hunting and all of the atrocious effects that it has, not only on the animals being cruelly hunted but with the added possibility of an increased exposure to a possibly fatal disease for humans? Making alcohol more accessible by allowing convenience stores to sell it? How exactly, is this good for our province, and particularly for those who tend towards alcoholism?

These are just two recent examples of things he theoretically feels are more important than recruiting more doctors and nurses, and improving and making health care available to all of the people in Ontario, for whom he is responsible.

Seriously? Where are your priorities, Premier. Ford? They certainly do not appear to align with those of the rest of us Ontarians.

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Dorothy Craig, Ottawa

Another Ford promise gets flushed away

Last week I was returning from Montreal, and at the Ontario border saw under the usual sign: “Welcome to Ontario” the large letters: “ONTARIO: OPEN FOR BUSINESS.”

A little farther on is the Ontario Tourist Information Centre. Answering a call of nature, I went into the centre only to find another sign: “CLOSED.” I had to do my business in the woods behind the building.                                                                                                                                                                                                So much for Doug Ford’s promises.

Robert F. Nelson, Ottawa

Mark Carney enters dangerous territory

Re: Carney should be careful. We all know what happens to Trudeau’s friends, Sept. 10.

So, the first announcement from the Liberal retreat in British Columbia is that Mark Carney is to be the government’s special adviser on Canada’s economic growth.

For those not familiar, Carney is the former governor of the Bank of Canada, governor of the Bank of England, and chair of Bloomberg Inc. Very impressive qualifications.

This brings to my mind that ex-governor general of Canada David Johnston, also had very impressive qualifications and was highly spoken of by probably every Canadian. A distinguished person of the highest integrity. This was until he was appointed by Justin Trudeau as special rapporteur on election interference. Then it all fell apart for him.

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My question to Carney is: “Why would you possibly inflict this possible outcome upon yourself?” Maybe by aligning yourself, as Johnston did, with the federal Liberals, you are setting yourself up for the same outcome and this may be, sadly, the last line of your impressive résumé.

Good luck with that.

Robert Lamont, Ottawa

Don’t be so cynical about Carney’s new job

Tasha Kheiriddin questions why the Liberals would want economic advice from our respected former governor of the Bank of Canada.

He’s a Liberal, favours a mixed economy, is concerned about what is being done to slow climate change, and can see the broader global picture thanks to his employment in the United Kingdom.

Does he have political ambitions? Perhaps. If the prime minister were concerned about competition for his job, he wouldn’t have raised Carney’s profile by hiring him. Is there an honest, desire on behalf of the government to improve affordability of goods and services for Canadians? It shows a need for better policies to better any chance for re-election.

But instead, Kheiriddin promotes her own “common sense” (largely undefined) party slogan, and places suspicious motives around the hiring. I have to wonder if she really believes in improving Canada’s economy.

Peter Haley, Ottawa

Cohen’s values deserve a T-shirt

Re: Kamala Harris did exactly what she needed to do, while Trump talked nonsense, Sept. 11.

It was blatantly obvious in his presidential debate column that Andrew Cohen is a Kamala Harris and Democrat supporter. With that in mind, there’s something he might be interested in purchasing.

For $30, in various colours, he can buy a T-shirt that reads: My values have not changed.

Jill Young, Ottawa

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