So far, B.C. hasn’t followed governments like Ontario and Nova Scotia in ordering its workers back into the office. Local business leaders say the lack of workers in downtown Victoria is contributing to the slow recovery of the city’s downtown core after the pandemic.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
The downtown streets of Canada’s biggest cities were silent and empty when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses, schools and government offices in March, 2020. Five years later, some are still struggling with low foot traffic, including in B.C.’s capital, where tourists have returned but many workers have not.
In a bid to change that, the private sector, and some levels of the public sector, have been recalling employees to offices in the name of productivity. The B.C. government, however, is bucking that trend and has embraced flexible work in its policies. The civil servants’ union is also taking steps to make those flexible arrangements more permanent.
The BC General Employees’ Union continued to escalate rotating strike action on Monday, widening its picketing activities to ten communities. They are asking for higher wages, but also for their current remote work privileges to be enshrined in their next union contract.
BC General Employees' Union president Paul Finch, left, said the hybrid work model has made the civil service more attractive to workers.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Outside of the province, many public servants across Canada are being ordered back to work. The Ontario government announced in mid-August that its employees will be required to return to the office four days a week starting Oct. 20, and on a full-time basis in 2026. The union representing federal public servants has been fighting against a mandate ordering employees to work three days per week in the office, up from two. And last summer, the Nova Scotia government ordered 3,500 non-unionized workers back to the office five days a week.
But so far, B.C.’s provincial government isn’t following suit. Currently, one-fifth of the province’s 27,000 civil servants are working remotely on a full-time basis. Even senior managers have taken advantage of the policy to relocate outside of the capital, which is one of Canada’s most expensive cities to live in. And two-thirds of government workers have an agreement that allows them to work from home at least part-time, as long as they remain in the province.
There are multiple issues that have combined to dampen the recovery of Victoria’s core after the arrival of the pandemic. The escalating toxic drug crisis and associated street disorder is no small factor, but the lack of employees in the core is a significant issue, according to local business leaders.
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On a single block downtown, a dozen “for lease” signs can be spotted, some faded, while other shop windows are simply papered over, their proprietors having walked away.
Price’s Lock & Safe, an institution in downtown Victoria since 1895, is vacant. Two years ago, Wally Price moved his shop to the outskirts of town. The locksmith, once located on Douglas Street – one of the city’s main commercial strips – had catered to locals who worked nearby. But there aren’t enough of them anymore, and Mr. Price said concerns about crime and a growing homeless population are discouraging shoppers who used to come into the core. “I decided, we don’t need this anymore. I don’t like to drive downtown anymore.”
In 2023, Shannon Salter, the head of the public service, added to the challenges when she rolled out a new human resources plan that promised to expand hybrid workplace options that were rapidly implemented at the start of the pandemic. “While many employers are now restricting access to remote and hybrid work, the B.C. public service is embracing it more than ever,” she wrote then. The policy allowed the government to reduce its office overhead costs, and it improved labour recruitment and retention, she argued.
John Wilson, head of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, said small- and medium-sized businesses that were built around the year-round foot traffic that a government town provides are struggling as a result of that policy. Many toughed out the pandemic on the assumption that their customers would return.
“What was a vibrant downtown core in 2019 soon hollowed out and vacated in 2020 due to the pandemic, obviously,” Mr. Wilson said in an interview. “But by 2023, those of us in the private sector thought that there would be a flow of people back to their offices in the downtown core, and the vibrancy of the city would regenerate. That hasn’t happened.”
The government’s decision to double down on remote work did not consider the economic survival of Victoria’s businesses, he said. “People have had to pivot. Some have some have had to close their businesses. Others have had to move their businesses to different locations outside the core of the city.”
Bryan Wilde cuts a key at Price’s Lock & Safe. Two years ago the store moved from downtown Victoria to the outskirts of town.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
In an interview Friday, Ms. Salter said from a human resources standpoint B.C.’s hybrid work model has improved the delivery of public services.
“My job as head of the public service is to ensure that we retain our incredible talent, and requiring public servants to sit an hour each day in traffic, to be away from their families and their kids for no good operational reason – it’s just not a respectful way to treat your workforce.” Employee satisfaction is at an all-time high, she added.
This policy is, however, not currently written into labour contracts. The BC General Employees’ Union has put this on the table in the current round of bargaining.
“The only thing we’re looking for is simple provisions that prevent it from being awarded in an arbitrary or discriminatory fashion,” union president Paul Finch said in an interview. “It would be silent on the levels of tele-work, so it would not prevent government from having more or less tele-work.”
He agreed with Ms. Salter that the policy has made working for the civil service more attractive. “The cost of living is so incredibly high in British Columbia that many civil servants can’t afford to live and work in the communities where their work offices are located, and so they have a somewhat higher quality of life if they’re able to move to a more remote community.”
But the union also wants new protections for a class of workers that has grown under Ms. Salter’s policy – people who have been hired into a position that allows them to work remotely, who would be uniquely vulnerable if the government rolled back its flexible work provisions. “We want the people who are fully remote to be in their own kind of seniority unit,” Mr. Finch said.
Ms. Salter agreed that the policy could change at some point, but she said that won’t happen under her watch. “Workforce policies obviously have to adapt to the time, but this is something that I have been steadfastly committed to,” she said.
People walk past a store for lease in downtown Victoria.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Building landlords in B.C.’s capital city are trying to find ways to fill the void. A recent report from a commercial real estate agency, CBRE Victoria, found that the market for office space downtown remains “resilient,” but it is a tougher sell.
“Landlords are responding to evolving market dynamics by offering increased concessions and more flexible lease terms to attract and retain tenants, particularly considering the ongoing impact of remote and hybrid work models,” the second quarterly update states.
The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce recently looked at moving its offices out of downtown, but decided to make a statement by staying put. As well, its staff will be required to work in the office five days a week, starting in 2026.
“We believe that the downtown core needs workers in it,” the chamber of commerce’s Mr. Wilson said. “And we want the public sector to follow the private sector’s lead.”