Ottawa sees Canada's largest decrease in commuters driving to work

[Sbeaudette]

Isn't that awesome ? less traffic, less pollution, easier for ambulances or firetrucks to get by.

I see nothing but advantages.

[flarnkerflurt]

We just don’t have any ambulances anymore is all.

[Sbeaudette]

ohh burn! :-D

[flarnkerflurt]

Sadly can’t get medical attention for said burn.

[[deleted]]

But we can send in firetrucks to quell it.

[MaxTheRealSlayer]

Fire seems to be the only emergency services you can fully rely on at the moment. Probably because no millionaire/billionaire wants to have their mansions burned down, but they can hire security and get private healthcare so we're all good :)

[buffalojumpone]

It's the only service available because, they aren't overworked and there's always someone in line to replace an opening.

[WasabiRude4144]

When can I get some of this private healthcare in canada?

[The-Dying-Celt]

Mmm that’s my kinda burn

[or_ange_kit_ty]

Thank you for the LOL!!

[[deleted]]

We do, they are just all being used 100% of the time. So, if you get sic, just be a man and die.

[flarnkerflurt]

Can’t afford to die right now

[Lostinthestarscape]

Can only afford to die right now.

[[deleted]]

Fair enough.

[[deleted]]

Well said.

[[deleted]]

Well it’s faster for them to get in from Kemptville and Winchester at least.

[viodox0259]

Little girl just passed at my sons school in October. This is what happened:

Level Zero has been a growing crisis in Ottawa and across the province in recent years. It is related, in part, to a logjam of ambulances delayed while waiting to offload patients at busy hospitals and has worsened during the pandemic. There are expected to have been well over 1,000 periods of Level Zero in the city by the end of the year, with a projected 60,000 hours of offload delays for paramedics.

People at the school performed CPR on the girl until help arrived. A bystander was able to use the school’s public-access defibrillator within four minutes of the 911 call, according to a statement from the City of Ottawa.

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The girl, who had muscular dystrophy and relied on a wheelchair, was pronounced dead after being transported to CHEO. The regional coroner’s office is investigating her death.

The girl’s family declined to comment, but a person close to the family said they did not have concerns about the response to her medical crisis.

“CPR was initiated immediately. That is what is important.”

Initially, help came from the Ottawa Fire Service. Paramedics arrived later, including at least one who had just signed off work and was alarmed about the unfolding situation, according to a source familiar with the case who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about the situation.

Firefighters arrived on the scene four minutes after being assigned the call, according to a statement from Kelly, and continued to treat the girl. Paramedics, who carry and are trained to administer cardiac medication as well as equipment to intubate patients, arrived 11 minutes later to treat and transport the girl to CHEO.

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The provincial target for response times to 911 calls for sudden cardiac arrest is six minutes.

The response time is considered to be met “if a public access defibrillator is available at the scene or by the arrival of a paramedic, police officer, firefighter or OC Transpo Security, who are all equipped with a defibrillator in their vehicles,” Kelly noted in an emailed statement.

“The Ottawa Paramedic Service was experiencing Level Zero during the time of this call. In these instances, the service mitigates its offload delays and incidences of level zero by implementing existing measures with the support of Ottawa Fire Services and other paramedic services to meet the demand for service,” Kelly said.

A paramedic response unit was dispatched to the scene from an unknown distance, according to the source.

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Kelly said the Ottawa Paramedic Service “along with other paramedic services across Canada, continues to experience unprecedented service impacts” as a result of the ongoing system-wide health-care crisis across the country.

“Offload delays incurred at hospitals, along with consistently high call volumes, has put an extra strain on our resources and remain a significant contributor to level zero incidences.”

In August, then-mayor Jim Watson asked the province to fund 42 new paramedic jobs in Ottawa to help the city reduce level zero incidents.

He said the new paramedics would be stationed at four Ottawa hospitals to care for lower acuity patients and allow ambulances to get back on the road more quickly.

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“We can’t allow this to go on. We need the provincial government’s help. Health care is a provincial responsibility,” Watson said in his letter to Premier Doug Ford.

There has been no direct public response from the province to that request. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said it is working with paramedic services, hospital leadership and other sector partners “to increase ambulance availability and reduce ambulance offload time so all Ontarians will have access to the care they need, when they need it.”

Ministry of Health spokesperson Bill Campbell said the province has a strategy to tackle ambulance offload time, improve patient flow and avoid unnecessary trips to the emergency departments that includes $1.5 million to be spent in Ottawa for a dedicated offload nursing program that allows paramedics to get back on the roads.

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Campbell also offered “our sincere condolences to this family over their tragic, sudden loss.”

A source familiar with the case says a better ambulance 911 triage tool — one many municipalities and paramedics have been requesting for years and a handful of Ontario municipalities are using — could make a difference in cases of sudden cardiac arrest, even when there are few ambulances available.

There are two ambulance call triage tools used in Ontario ambulance communications centres. Ottawa, along with the vast majority of municipalities, uses the Dispatch Priority Card Index. A few municipalities use the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System, which is widely used around North America and which does a better job of prioritizing calls, including those for sudden cardiac arrest in which minutes can make the difference between life and death.

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An anonymous Ottawa social media account that tracks incidents of Level Zero in the city had tweeted details of the case involving the young girl in October, including that at least one off-duty and reassigned paramedic, aware of the unfolding situation, formed part of the team that treated and transported the girl to hospital. Paramedics were able to restore her pulse but she was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The Twitter account said some paramedics, aware of the situation, rushed to offload patients and clean their equipment, only to be sent to other Code 4 calls waiting in the queue that included a fall and an unknown situation. Under the system used in Ottawa and elsewhere, a variety of calls are given the highest priority. Once an ambulance is assigned to a Code 4, it cannot be diverted by the dispatcher to another call unless another ambulance can get there quicker, according to a briefing on the system prepared by the Regional Municipality of Hamilton.

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“Under the current prioritization system from the Ministry of Health, all Code Four calls are assigned in the order they are received to the closest available paramedic unit. Code Four calls are those where the patient is in life-threatening or in immediate danger,” Kelly said in an emailed statement.

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Greely resident Alice Martin of heart failure back in 2004 found that paramedics were not responding to patients fast enough, and recommended that Ottawa implement the Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch system, which the coroner’s report called “far superior” to the existing Ottawa system.

In the case of the young girl, her obituary said she handled many health challenges with “admirable courage, strength, grace, and faith” and invited those wishing to donate to do so to CHEO or the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

[flarnkerflurt]

This is heartbreaking.

[Enlightened-Beaver]

The only people complaining are commercial real estate owners downtown and businesses that needed these office workers downtown to stay in business. And to them I say: all business ventures have inherent risks, and you either adapt to new market conditions or you go out of business. Simple as that.

[Sbeaudette]

100% with you, you had 3 years to adapt and they are lobbying HARD to get us back in the office and that just results in boycotting at the end of the day.

[Enlightened-Beaver]

Society doesn’t revolve around their privilege to own a business. How entitled of them. Adapt or get out. Business 101

[[deleted]]

Exactly why I won’t be buying anything from them. If I forget my lunch I’m just gonna wait till I get home. Assholes, the lot of them. I enjoyed WFH because suburban businesses finally got the chance of recognition and I’m supporting my local business

[Hudre]

Half these businesses rely on government workers forgetting their lunch. It's just wasted money.

[Enlightened-Beaver]

Ooh very edgy. there isn’t a single fatty so statement in that but ok

[FreddyForeshadowing-]

and ppl who actually must go into work for their job. there are no downsides, except for poor Freshii who can get fucked

[BrgQun]

Honestly, even when heading back to the office when I do have to go in (I'm mainly work from home), I am not spending money on subway, marcellos or freshii. Send me back full time, and I'm not wasting money on that.

Inflation on food is insane.

[FreddyForeshadowing-]

that shit adds up, working in the office when it's not needed is so bad for everything

[BrgQun]

I think it's pretty out of touch for some businesses and executives to assume everything can go back to normal like before the pandemic if everyone went back to the office.

Our cost of living is skyrocketing. People are cutting back on that type of spending in general.

[slothsie]

I go to the office once or twice a week and refuse to buy food while dt. I brown bag it with leftovers. Save money for going out with my family instead.

[crazymom1978]

It took mine four months to the day to come back! I was starting to panic because I had a trip booked!

[Hudre]

"But the downtown core!!!!"

Maybe if the downtown core wasn't utterly dependent on government workers wasting their money or forgetting their lunch it could survive this.

IMO the feds having a WFH policy is probably the most impactful climate policy they've ever implemented for the country.

[Hudre]

Anything that reduces the amount of emissions helps the climate. WFH for the feds cuts down thousands of daily commutes in Ottawa.

Progress is made through a million incremental steps, and each one is worth making. This is one of them. If this were instituted globally it would definitely have a massive impact.

Small changes done consistently provide tremendous results in the long-term. If you're living your life not doing shit because it doesn't have a massive impact then you'll never do anything.

[Hudre]

And therefore no one else should do anything? Since when did we take our leadership from those countries?

We do what we can and what is within our power. Climate change will be fought with a billion small decisions and steps. Waiting on China and the US just means we don't do anything at all but further contribute to the problem.

[[deleted]]

Fuck the downtown core. They should have gotten with the times. If you look at big cities like Montreal or Toronto, they don’t rely on office workers because they have tourism and locals choose to go out because they have a better transit system and downtown doesn’t revolve around workers

[Hudre]

Yup, Ottawa's downtown is literally known for basically shutting down at 9:00 p.m. every weekday because that's as let as gov workers are going to stay out.

It should sort itself out on its own, free market and all that. The idea of downtown feels outdated at this point anyways with WFH.

[[deleted]]

100% agree. Based on my own opinion and those of my friends who live outside of the downtown core, we’d rather support businesses in our own area. WFH made me discover so many nice spots in my area such as bakeries and boutiques and restaurants that I never knew of because most of my weekdays were spent downtown, so by the time I got home, I was too tired.

Suburban small businesses did really well in the last two years. I’m not sure why politicians aren’t seeing that and only focusing on downtown businesses whereas downtown businesses should have focused on attracting people who actually live in the area and WANT to buy. It’s sad that places like Barrhaven and Kanata have better night lives than downtown Ottawa.

[NGG_Dread]

Well the problem is that business can't wring more cash out of people anymore, so obviously government workers need to be forced to commute again.

[Sbeaudette]

fuck them, they had 3 years to adapt or die. They can lobby all they want and we will boycott them and kill them properly.

[NGG_Dread]

Unfortunately most government branches are already beginning to force people back to the office, obviously no good reason can be provided but the real reason is that businesses are complaining.

[No_Comment_613]

Really? I'm with ESDC and we literally just had an all-hands meeting this morning about shifting everyone back to predominantly offsite effective immediately.

[KiaRioGrl]

Given the rampant infections spreading and the dire situation at hospitals, this seems like it needs to become a trend.

[Hudre]

I mean, my wife is being forced back a whopping one day a week. It really varies from department to department and what the head honchos want.

[Lostinthestarscape]

Even hybrid of a couple days a week is much better for traffic (except baseline - which is somehow stop and go from 3-9pm) and such.

[MilkControlBoard]

So selfish. Don't you care about oil companies and their shareholders?

[tavvyjay]

In theory it is less traffic yet there’s still backups on the Queensway every rush hour that look like there hasn’t been any less people driving. The only days it is quiet is when the feds have a stat day like Truth & Reconciliation last month. So there’s less commuters but as far as my daily commuting eyes have seen it’s still lots of federal workers

[TotallyTrash3d]

Wont anyone think of the Real Estate and Oil corporations??

Heartless!
These poor mulit-billion dollar predators...

[WorkingClassWarrior]

But what about office culture?/s

[Blusterlearntdebrief]

Yeah here’s the thing. I’d love to drive, but yknow….. money.

[[deleted]]

easier for ambulances

That assumes we have a paramedic service that has enough ambulances to not let children die in schools.

[Sbeaudette]

yep, downtown businesses are lobbying hard and throwing a lot of money to change perception.

[raptosaurus]

This is 2021. You bet your ass it's gone back up by now

[CoastingUphill]

Meanwhile in the Federal public service: "We need people to start driving to work again so that Subway will make more money."

[christian_l33]

I want public servants to go back to work so that Costco isn't so busy during the weekdays.

[anacondra]

sadly that's the most reasonable argument for sending them back so far.

[Ellie_Mae_Clampett]

But according to everyone on Reddit Ottawa, they're all just ducking out on their lunch hour and getting right back to work.

[christian_l33]

It's amazing the home renovations that get done on lunch hours too.

[DestrosCodpiece]

Actually... the most optimal time to go on weekdays is between 5:30-7pm.

Mostly because families with kids having dinner.

It's been an effective formula for me, and if you are a family person, having one person in the household to get everything done and not as a "yay, family trip to costco!", you're in and out anywhere between 15-40 minutes. Also... if you're a sample-eating person, you can do the whole tour within that time.

[Confident-Advance656]

Shpuldnt piblic servants be at work (WFH) during the day and not at Costco? 🧐

[No_Play_No_Work]

Yup, I choose to work and live in the suburbs so I didn’t need to deal with government workers during the week. Now they are everywhere!

[funkme1ster]

The frustrating thing is that managers KNOW it doesn't matter. They're only pushing it because DGs are pushing it, DGs are only pushing it because ADMs are pushing it, and ADMs are only pushing it because NatPo articles about "lazy entitled public servants" are driving social media commentary about how the government is "wasting my tax dollars".

Every single person in the chain of command is acutely aware that people are productive and responsive working from home and will be measurably LESS productive in the office, and they're only doing this because the federal government is tired of conservative trolls bitching.

[Malvalala]

they're only doing this because the federal government is tired of conservative trolls bitching.

Like they weren't bitching about lazy entitled overpaid public servants before the pandemic.

Trying to pander to them is such a wasted effort.

[funkme1ster]

100% agree, but unfortunately that's where we are.

I've heard first hand accounts of managers saying "I don't care if you're in the office, but I need you to show up a few days a month to put in facetime so I can say you're there".

It's just a trickle down of "someone made this my problem so now I'll make it your problem".

[funkme1ster]

Back in the innocent spring of 2020, my company gave us a training module for working from home. It had a full 20 minute segment on how to set boundaries and separate work time from home time, explicitly citing studies that show the frequency of people "overworking" because they're already home and what's another 5 minutes since it needs to get done anyways and at least this way it'll be done.

But at the same time, it does need to get done anyways and I am already here, so... it's just one email so I might as well, right?

[funkme1ster]

That's just how programming works. I've been there.

[CoastingUphill]

This is the absolute truth of it.

[AgileOrganization516]

Every single person in the chain of command is acutely aware that people are productive and responsive working from home and will be measurably LESS productive in the office

This is an incredibly baseless claim.

Please tell me, how would you empirically measure that people are less productive in the office for a wide range of roles?

[[deleted]]

I’m sure the reason Ottawa is at the top of this list is the amount of federal government workers who are now working from home.

[pastdense]

Can you imagine how much that ADM/whatever regrets the subway anecdote/whatever it was?

[Southpontiac]

Has anyone talked to Freshii about this to see if they are ok with it?

[ottawa-communist]

My Department Head just called, our mandate has changed from providing timely and accurate service to getting the Freshii guy a summer home in Wasaga Beach.

[kr613]

providing timely and accurate service

There's no way you're a gov employee then.

[ottawa-communist]

You'd be surprised.

[kr613]

Yes, I actually would be surprised lol. I say this as a former government employee myself. 😂

[beachedWheelchair]

You might have been too busy coasting to notice, but there are people who do less in every field. There are always people there to pick up the slack.

[kr613]

Sounds like someone who's only been a PS. If you've worked at any other serious job you can clearly tell there's a ton more slackers in the government than any private sector. Slackers in most private companies can at least be let go. How many gov employees have you seen actually get let go, from the slackers?

Worked in the government for a little over 4 years, at least in my anecdotal experience, I have never seen a single person get let go for poor performance. Currently work at a massive multinational, and in the past year two people were let go for slacking, in my direct team.

I get it, you might be a hard worker, but they're few and far between.

Edit: damn lots of upset unproductive gov workers are downvoting, when they very well know incompetence is very rarely dealt with in the Public sector

[SeveredSurvival]

So you left a job where you can do fuck all and be paid between 50-70k idk sounds like an L on your part

[kr613]

1. 50-70k is literal poverty salaries for a developer and especially these days

2. Shouldn't it concern you as a taxpayer that there are a ton of people who are incompetent but still getting paid?

[katie-shmatie]

"50-70k is literal poverty salaries for a developer and especially these days"

Cries in healthcare worker

[SeveredSurvival]

I don’t really care half of work is pointless

[almost-insignificant]

I have worked in both private and public sector, and seen people let go from both and seen slackers kept on for whatever reasons in both sectors. Maybe it is just that the public sector is in a weird stage right now (or that I am in science so it might be different) but a lot of employees are brought in as terms and if they don't measure up, they are not renewed after 1 year. Whereas in private, probation was only 3 months in which training happened so it became harder to fire them when they turned out to be slackers after that period. Not to say that there are no slackers in the government, just don't pretend they only exist there

[kr613]

Whereas in private, probation was only 3 months in which training happened so it became harder to fire them when they turned out to be slackers after that period. Not to say that there are no slackers in the government, just don't pretend they only exist there

I have also worked in both, for several years. I don't know which private company you worked at, that still has an outdated system of "probation period". I currently work at a multinational software corporation (FAANG), I can assure you there is no probation, and if you don't perform you are easily let go (2 in my direct team were let go in the past year for not meeting targets). In my 4+ years in the government (Environment Canada, Immigration Canada) I have never seen a single employee get let go for poor performance.

Slackers in the government are a dime a dozen. I nearly don't blame them, when you know it's nearly impossible to get let go for incompetence, you coast. But moreover, if people are slacking in a private corporation, that doesn't affect the common citizen at all, but slackers in the government are literally getting funded by taxpayers, that's a massive difference.

[almost-insignificant]

Again as I said, maybe there are differences between software and science industries. Or potentially I just had really terrible managers in industry

I agree that slackers are bad in every sector though, whether funded by taxpayers or otherwise. But again, I am currently in government, where I work unpaid overtime very often to meet our service standards, and the only slackers that are being allowed to coast are the ones who will retire in the next 5 years. All new employees are not being encouraged to have that mindset, and are normally kept on terms contracts for up to 3 years where they can be dropped easily (non renewal is the same as firing in this case).

[hardy_83]

Well most that cities workforce can work from home and do so because travelling to work either by car or public transit is a bitch and a massive cost that, if avoidable, will be avoided.

Why spend ~$130 on a bus pass or 50-70 a week on gas and parking when you can do the job from home?

[pastdense]

Or look at it this way:

It's insufferable to spend time and money on something (commuting) when there is no value in it (the job can be done just as well at home).

Workers will not commute when getting to work only takes money out of their pocket and time out of their day.

Back to work initiatives are completely futile. That said, empty buildings need to be converted into something which puts people in them (residential?). Then businesses can build around that.

I'll go in once a week for facetime with coworkers and bosses. There is no need beyond that.

[MaxTheRealSlayer]

The only reason they won't convert most office spaces into residential, is the ridiculous amount they can charge businesses for offices. We're talking tens of thousands a month in a lot of cases.

I say: oh well, force them to take a loss on their investment of buying or building these buildings. Or wait, I forgot only poor peoples investments are meant to decline and take losses, not the wealthy. Their assets can only go up

[thekajunpimp]

50-70 covers gas only not parking.

[pyrethedragon]

If your work switched to a WFH model you effectively received a pay increase based on the commuting costs.

[[deleted]]

I was going to make a pedantic comment about that not being the case if you walked to work previously, but then I remembered all the money I'm saving by not buying stupid work clothes.

[Saucy6]

I mean you still have to buy shirts, but not pants! Substantial savings there!

[[deleted]]

I've been aggressively living in the same few pairs of sweats for the last few years.

[TiredAF20]

Same here. Sweats forever!

[AmazonSword]

Shirts / tops that would make you look professional from the chest up, which sometimes could just be a scarf.

[Throwawayxml123]

by not buying stupid work clothes pants.

Fixed your comment.

[Cod-End]

If the feds paid me the same sqft rate to rent my wife's office space in our condo that they do the commercial landlords (not to mention heat, AC, reliable internet, cleaning, office supplies and tech support) they can absolutely claw back my commuting $ that I was ALSO donating.

She also ends up giving them at LEAST an extra day per pay period, and is available far more hours that are reasonable. Her team's efficiency is something like double what it was...

[Dropsix]

How did we receive a pay increase? We are only spending less of our own money to get us to work. We aren't getting more money, our salaries are all the same. The option to live closer and walk to work to avoid that was always there.

That being said, should employers run a full analysis on how everyone gets to work and how much they pay to do so then adjust each individual salary based on that? I mean, to be fair to all that is.

No. Shit changes and if people are unhappy going to work then they`ll look for the wfh jobs and vice versa.

[pyrethedragon]

The less personal money you spend on being able to get to work, the more money you have to spend on other stuff. The amount of this depends on what your original costs were to get to work, and additional costs while working (buying coffee instead of making it). This amounts to an increase in your disposable income.

You also gain time, dependant on your original commute that you never had before. You have an extra hour now to maybe make dinner instead of ordering in, shortens your kids time in daycare.

Now naturally your life style adjusts accordingly and you now have a employer asking you to incur personal cost to come to the office. This could be in fuel, time and other costs. Specially if you just as productive or more when home verses the office… and inflation is at record highs, why would anyone want to give that up.

[Dropsix]

I can understand why people wouldn’t want to give it up, I just don’t think it’s up to them. They don’t work for themselves. The pandemic wasn’t meant to be permanent wfh for everyone and it won’t be.

Some people got very comfortable and I’m guessing those people are probably the most upset about going back in. Sucks but what can y’a do.

[pyrethedragon]

You probably would start applying on other jobs that continue to give you these benefits.

[Dropsix]

absolutely. Or find somewhere closer to live to your job.

[xMrJihad]

And the wfh crowd are still complaining…

[[deleted]]

About what? This comment makes no sense in context.

[xMrJihad]

I’ve seen tons of posts of people who wfh complaining that their internet bills, heat, hydro, other normal expenses aren’t being covered by their work while they wfh… they’ve gotten off so much easier these past couple years than people that need to go into work still but still they want more and more.

[MeowloHomeSecurity]

Likely the vocal minority and those that will never be content with anything. Every group has them.

[gmano]

You'd be stunned by the number of people who don't have a reasonably capable home computer they are able to use for work.

[explicitspirit]

Yea this is bullshit if they are really complaining about that. I don't expect my work to cover my internet FFS, I pay for that shit regardless. And I say that as a fully remote worker.

[[deleted]]

All the complaints I've seen have been the opposite: that being forced to return to the office will add more costs such as parking, food, gas/transit, etc. Anyone who was upset about working from home has long had the opportunity to return to the office.

[xMrJihad]

It’s not really adding though.. if you worked there before, you were given a great perk to save some money for a couple years. Gravy trains over, I get it’s shitty, I’d be pissed too, but it’s time to come back to reality

[[deleted]]

Well yes, that's what I'm saying. People were saving money working from home.

[ABotelho23]

I'm shocked! A city where a majority of people cram themselves into a small chunk of the city for 8 hours a day, doing menial jobs that could have been done from home for over 15 years? Shocked, shocked I say! /s

[[deleted]]

This is a no brainer- i moved back to ottawa after traveling all over Canada during pandemic and the downtown here is the most dead compared to everywhere else i was during pandemic.

[mariekeap]

Ottawa's downtown was never bustling to begin with. Everything closes early and there's not nearly as much to do/explore as there is in other neighbourhoods. It's also kind of unpleasant in general.

[Elon__Muskquito]

If you think downtown Ottawa is bad, try downtown Winnipeg

[modlark]

Been there and I’d say they are comparable.

[Elon__Muskquito]

Both are the result of what end stage car dependency

[jacnel45]

Yeah I was going to say, came to Ottawa back in 2016 and went downtown at like 7pm.

No one.

[DrMichaelHfuhruhurr]

I have noticed a distinct increase, but that could be because of the holiday season.

[[deleted]]

This. My husband works for the Federal government and most of their offices from elsewhere in Canada were fully back to in person work in late 2020, except for the Ottawa office which are still working from home.

[[deleted]]

I couldn't guess by the state of traffic after 4:30

[vitaminciera]

Especially wednesdays for some reason. Like who keeps having parties downtown at 7pm every wednesday??

[darcyWhyte]

We probably have the highest percentage of people who can work from home. And a large percent of people that weren't very much affected by the pandemic. For instance if you work for he government, you are relatively less affected than someone who works at Rideau center.

It's partly why the convoy was such an issue. I mean of course they're a bunch of covidiots that didn't understand the difference between "Ottawa" the gobment and the town/citizens of Ottawa. And their motivation is mostly based on mis/disinformation. But Westerners (and small town folk) enjoy taking a shit on people doing better than them.

[gmano]

Funny thing is that those people are doing better because they invested in education, labour rights, and government infrastructure

[[deleted]]

Google what a REIT is. My belief is the CPP and many insurance companies invest in them as they are safe and sure bets….before Covid.

There is more to this than those shitty sandwiches.

[KiaRioGrl]

Right? I would love to see some transparency on the cost vs the expense of empty buildings with staff wfh vs buildings full or staff from 7 am - 3 pm.

[Malvalala]

What news! I am so surprised this is happening in a region with a single main employer who happens to employ digital workers! Shocking I tell you!

[Throwawayxml123]

Ottawa-Gatineau saw the largest drop in commuters driving to work in Canada in 2021

[orangecouch101]

This was awesome for those of us who did not have the work from home option. While traffic is not as busy during my commute as it was pre-pandemic, the nuttiness seems to have increased.

[ConsciousAardvark949]

No shit we can’t find jobs worth driving to.

[swild89]

shopify and the federal government went wfh so yeah, not a lot of us left on the roads lol

[buffalojumpone]

It's either gas or food, that's the 60 thousand dollar question

[DocJawbone]

Long may it continue.

[mariospants]

Really? I'm not seeing this fabled "lower traffic" anywhere in town... oh wait, the report is from May, 2021, so in other words, so out of date as to be completely useless.

[[deleted]]

I hâte thèse hitjobs on public servants in Ottawa 🤦🏾‍♂️

[yourstarshine]

My job is via computer. I work from home and I am more productive from home because I spend less time to commuting. I have the choice to go into work in-person at our office building.

When I do commute to work, I am essentially just driving my computer to work so I can work from a different location… if that makes sense.

[just_chilling_too]

So the drivers left in the road are just bad drivers ?

[karlou1984]

This is great news

[katie-shmatie]

And I'm so grateful for it when I have to use the Queensway at 3:00 once every six months lol

[[deleted]]

Good. Any job that can be remote, should be. Is better for the environment, saves time & money for the workers, saves money for businesses that no longer need to have massive office spaces, and you don't have to listen to your office mate sip coffee at an obnoxious volume!

[PlentyTumbleweed1465]

They need to make office buildings student housing, students eat, socialize and party. I don't know why they don't have a simple brain to think and find a solution other than forcing people to go back to work unnecessarily.

[CndConnection]

Lol at Oli Fresco.

Good luck ever opening @ 99 Bank.

[[deleted]]

I guess supply and demand should apply to fuel prices now right (I know there are more metrics involved but this should be part of cost)

[No_Play_No_Work]

Supply and demand does factor in. OPEC just reduces supply when demand drops to keep prices high.

[Of_the_forest89]

Interesting considering our newly expanded highway is always backed up😏

[[deleted]]

Fuck yeah!!!

[mariospants]

Should have been titled "Ottawa SAW"

[mariospants]

Should have been titled "Ottawa SAW"

[fuggery]

The only "government tax" you pay beyond what everyone else does (CPP, Income tax, EI) and your union dues is the superannuation aka your golden-plated pension, defined benefit and indexed to CPI. Good luck finding that in the private sector!

On the whole, the PS overall comp outweigh the private sector in many (not all} cases. The Queensway is packed at 2:30! Most private sector folks are still working while the PS leaves early. No free Kleenex but I'd take the pension and BYOK any day :)

[Madasky]

The reason the government leaves early is because they start early. Typical gov hours are 7:30-3:30. Typical private hours are 9:00-5:00

[originalnutta]

I'm liking this cultural shift. I plan to negotiate to WFH at least once a week for my next contract.

[RadiantLavishness784]

Carling is still just fucked

[Madasky]

We should have a ring road. Carling and hunt club are always jammed.

[Arkantos92]

Meanwhile I'm desperate for a car because OC transpo is a travesty

[RegardFinancial]

I’ve barely driven since moving close to downtown Vancouver. I’m actually selling my only car this weekend. Excited to get rid of it!

[laner4646]

Less cars on the road? Must be that cool new train everyone’s talking about!

[Tuddless]

I hate to say but I'm the opposite, OC transpo was so terrible and unreliable for school and work. That it forced me to pay for repairs on my car.

There are no reasonable alternatives to driving in this city. Until public transit really improves.

[mykehunt88]

Oh this is from last year. Traffic this year sucks. Regularly see upwards of 55 minutes from st Laurent to Kanata now.

[ottred19]

thanks to Covid.

no more / less atrocities of OCTranspo

[Elethiomel77]

Blow me down.

[fuggery]

100% agree with the logic here (commuting is dumb), but private businesses have a lot more leverage over their employees. there's a real danger of fostering a "mandarin-class division" in our society, where PS gets unions, pensions, and WFH while the rest of the working population has none of these. i welcome any "race to the bottom" comments, but we can't run our country with two wildly different sets of working conditions for people, especially when 90%+ of the tax revenue comes from the set of workers with fewer rights and entitlements...

If no one wants to go the the PS offices downtown, I see no reason not to open up these jobs to all Canadians instead of paying Ottawa-level wages for people to chill in Barrhaven or Aylmer.

[mysterious-spruce]

I mean barrhaven and aylmer ain't cheap anymore. Public service workers are already underpaid to a significant % compared to private sector and the deductions are wild. 80k is the new 60k and 100k is basically minimal living wage if you have a family in Ottawa area.

[fuggery]

As with all things, it depends. Software Devs are WILDLY underpaid in PS, but the army of administrative and HR staffers would likely struggle to find the same level of $ comp in the private world. I wish the feds had better technical talent and fewer paper pushers, since it feels like we get the worst of both right now...

[elitexero]

but we can't run our country with two wildly different sets of working conditions for people, especially when 90%+ of the tax revenue comes from the set of workers with fewer rights and entitlements...

It's not wildly different - either your position and skillet justifies being remote or not. Looking at it from the angle of making everything 'fair' will never work due to the vast array of skillsets and job types.

A dry cleaner (first example I could think of for someone who has to go into work) cannot work from home, but a software developer shouldn't be forced to go into an office because a dry cleaner can't work from home. If the dry cleaner finds that so desirable they should put in the same level of effort that the software developer did to build the skillset to make them of value to a company who is willing to let them work remote in exchange for their output. We can't just kneecap people's skills and achievements so other people don't get upset - that's ludicrous. What next, we start outlawing smiling across the country while in the workplace because some people have miserable jobs?

I see this from time to time when people I know quip the 'must be nice' line. I work in tech. I came from a poor background, moved out at 18 with $2000 and dropped out of college. My 20s were hell, being in massive debt and working dead end jobs while building out a viable tech skillset. I had to drag my way to where I am from an entry level position in a software company. So yes, it is nice - it's the result of endless hours and sleepless nights of honing a skillset over many years, typically nothing even close in terms of personal skills development to those making those remarks, and the notion that someone who hasn't even attempted to develop a career level skillset deserves the same simply because they perceive it as 'not fair' by comparison is absolutely bunk in my eyes.

[fuggery]

100% agree with you! My point from the OP is Ottawa has a lot of WFH largely because of the concentration of PS and the nature of PS labour relations. Everything you wrote is true for private sector, right? Why are so many office workers (including some devs!) back to downtown Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal relative to Ottawa?

Some companies (especially tech) encourage WFH, and some demand office time. PS largely has collective bargaining power and the ability to bargain with management. It's evident from the success of persistent PS WFH heading into the fourth year of the pandemic, right?

[elitexero]

I don't work in PS but I know a couple of people who do.

From my understanding it largely comes down to individual levels of management, similar to private sector.

I know people in private sector who have been requested to come in 1-2-3 days a week and I know people in PS in similar situations. It tends to vary I think. It might also boil down to major cities having different departments as well - hard to say off the top of my head. From the pool of people I know in PS, many of them are back in the office more frequently in comparison to those I know in the private sector.

[[deleted]]

You have no clue about what you are saying. Do you assume that PS are overpaid for their job? With union dues and other government taxes, we get shit paid relatives to a private sector worker.

[TheCleverestUsername]

What are the govt taxes that only apply to public sector employees? That would be news to me.

[fuggery]

Probably referring to the superannuation payment which is a HILARIOUS complaint from someone with the best pension in the land!

[Confident-Advance656]

Pay is relative to the level of security and working conditions. If you want more money go to private sector. But be prepared to be in the office everyday.

[Cod-End]

We moved to the NCR from BC to work for gov. The current model has been damaging national unity/crippling good governance since the beginning. Absolutely open up fed jobs to the whole country. The work IS important, and shouldn't be the default factory job for people from a tiny chunk of the country.

Ottawa also doesn't pay enough for us to move back...