Rural community mayors ‘extremely concerned’ about the impacts of return-to-office

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For months, mayors of rural communities around Ottawa have been worried about the impacts the government’s updated remote work mandate would have on their residents and local businesses. In the first week of public servants’ return to office for three days a week, they were already feeling the squeeze.

Gridlocked traffic during rush hours has extended the commutes of public servants who moved to rural towns and villages during the early pandemic years. Mayors fear this will drive residents away from their communities and could mean fewer public servants will spend money in local businesses.

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“The work-life balance gained from not having to spend time on the road to [and] from a city office cannot be minimized,” said Lisa McGee, the mayor of Arnprior, in an email. “Add to this, our local businesses have benefitted from having local residents stay local through their workday. It feels disingenuous to be forcing this move to benefit other locations, when a small town has also enjoyed the uptick of daytime spending and local dollars staying local.”

And at a time when many household budgets are already stretched, commuters have the added cost of parking, driving and maintaining vehicles, McGee said.

Nancy Peckford, the mayor of North Grenville, said her township is home to thousands of federal and provincial public sector employees.

During the pandemic, she said the area saw “tremendous growth,” with a projected population growth rate in the next five years between 16 and 25 per cent. She said hundreds of people moved to the area since the pandemic. She’s ow worried people may choose to move back downtown due to the new return-to-office rules.

“We would be very sad to see those new families, midlife professionals have to relocate on the basis of this new directive,” Peckford said.

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While there was an increase in support for local businesses during the height of the pandemic, Peckford said that continued as restrictions began to be lifted, with residents discovering their local hardware store or deciding to visit a local accountant versus one that was in the city near their workplace.

“From a professional services standpoint, from a health services standpoint, from just picking up groceries or gas, we understood that people were supporting their local economies in a way that they didn’t really have the same opportunity when they were in the office, if you will, in downtown Ottawa or Hull or Gatineau five days a week,” Peckford said.

The North Grenville mayor has been pushing back against the mandate for months alongside leaders from several other areas outside of Ottawa including Russell, Merrickville-Wolford, The Nation, Clarence-Rockland and Casselman. The mayors raised their concerns about the policy’s impacts on their local economies, environment and communities in a letter to Treasury Board president Anita Anand dated May 14.

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Peckford has also been calling for the establishment of a co-working space or a remote office location for federal employees in the region at the Kemptville Campus, a 626-acre property with 18 buildings.

Peckford said the federal government has a responsibility to “all of the economies where their public service employees work, not just one.” Noting that she’s “not convinced” that working in-office is more productive, she said having a co-working space in the area would allow residents to save up to three hours commuting a day to spend more time with their families and in their communities.

Like other municipalities in the area, Clarence-Rockland has experienced an uptick in traffic since the new remote rules came into effect on Sept. 9, according to Mayor Mario Zanth who said there is only one way in and out of the community.

“I don’t think the federal government understands the mental health impact this will have on citizens,” he said, adding that before returning to the office, residents were able to drop off and pick up their children off at the bus stop and go to medical appointments after work in the time they saved by not commuting. “The federal government essentially had an opportunity here to see that there’s flexibility here to innovate and they’ve gone backwards.”

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Zanth, said he felt “frustrated” for businesses, which have done “quite well” in the past couple of years.

The mayors of rural communities fear that in addition to local businesses, their wider communities will suffer.

“We’ve seen more people able to volunteer at the rink for their kid’s hockey team or what have you,” Peckford said. “We’ve seen higher rates of volunteerism at our food bank and some of our local charities and service groups. And I do fear that there will be impacts.”

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