Skip to Content Subscribe Our Offers My Account Manage My Subscriptions FAQ Newsletters Canada Canadian True Crime Canadian Politics Health World Israel & Middle East Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Comics NP News Quiz New York Times Crossword Horoscopes Life Eating & Drinking Style Sponsored Play for Ontario Travel Travel Canada Travel USA Travel International Cruises Travel Essentials Culture Books Celebrity Movies Music Theatre Television Business Essentials Advice Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Buy Canadian Home Living Outdoor Living Tech Style & Beauty Kitchen & Dining Personal Care Entertainment & Hobbies Gift Guide Travel Guide Deals Savings National Post Store More Sports Hockey Baseball Basketball Football Soccer Golf Tennis Driving Vehicle Research Reviews News Gear Guide Obituaries Place an Obituary Place an In Memoriam Classifieds Place an Ad Celebrations Working Business Ads Archives Healthing Epaper Manage Print Subscription Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ Newsletters Canada World Financial Post NP Comment Longreads Puzzmo Diversions Life Shopping Epaper Manage Print Subscription HomeNP CommentAmy Hamm: Public servants can't ride the work-from-home gravy train foreverThousands have signed a House of Commons petition to let federal workers work from home most of the week. They must be ignoredLast updated 17 hours ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Place Vanier Towers on River Road North in Vanier, which are government offices, on April 9, 2026. Photo by JULIE OLIVER/PostmediaA new petition aiming to enable thousands of federal employees to refuse to return to the office in our post COVID-19 era is gaining widespread support. It is indicative of the nauseating entitlement among Canada’s bloated public sector.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. 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Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorThe petition comes in the wake of a February 2026 federal government announcement that federal employees in Ottawa would be forced to return to the office four days a week starting in July. This followed similar announcements across Canada, including in Alberta and Ontario.The March 17 parliamentary petition, sponsored by Liberal MP James Maloney, demands that federal workers be entitled to a minimum of three work-from-home days per week. It would apply to “federally regulated employees, including (those in) banking, telecommunications, transportation, postal services, pipelines, and Crown corporations.” The only exceptions would be for persons whose work is not primarily computer-based, those who work in emergency, medical or caregiving roles, or those whose “physical presence is demonstrably essential.”This newsletter from NP Comment tackles the topics you care about. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIt is just shy of 40,000 signatures as of Friday. The federal government will have to respond to this petition once certified and presented in the House, which could spark new legislation.This is a petition that calls on the federal government to “ensure modern workplace standards” by granting public servants “the right to perform their work remotely.” It also implies that a federal work-from-home law should be in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.“Without clear legal protections, employees remain vulnerable to arbitrary return-to-office mandates that undermine work-life balance, inclusion, and competitiveness,” reads the petition.It claims that “remote and hybrid work improves productivity, lowers absenteeism and turnover, and supports caregivers, people with disabilities, and rural workers.” It goes so far as to demand that employers must “provide written, evidence-based justification if they require more than two in-office days per week.”Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that the physical presence of workers in their workplace is “demonstrably essential” as a rule, and not as the exception. Nor is a worker’s presence in the office “arbitrary.” (And if it is, then perhaps it’s the job that’s arbitrary.)Such a petition would never succeed in the private sector, where entrepreneurs and employers must compete in the global marketplace to survive. If private-sector employees decided not to show up and do their jobs, or demanded their boss provide written justification for them to show up for work, they’d be fired. And for good reason. It reeks of entitlement for federal employees to demand a change to labour laws so that they can collect government paycheques in their pyjamas from home offices.It is revealing that the petition argues that the proposed changes to labour laws will support “caregivers.” Presumably, “caregivers” means persons with young children, or those who tend to sick or disabled family members. In these cases, one should advocate for better social or government supports (such as affordable, accessible daycare or in-home nursing care) rather than hang on to a cushy government job while in fact serving as a caregiver. Such a “fix” benefits a privileged few, and not Canadians as a whole. Which makes it quite ironic that the petition is sponsored by a Liberal MP. (Whatever happened to that universal $10 a day childcare, eh, Liberals?)A quick perusal of Reddit’s “Canada Public Servants” community, with some 98,000 members, reinforces the notion that Canada has created a fat, entitled public sector. There are countless threads full of federal employees expressing their extreme aversion to returning to the office, replete, even, with conspiracy theories that wealthy oligarchs and land owners have convinced the federal government to funnel money to them by renting their office buildings and forcing federal employees to work inside. Oh, the humanity.Perhaps unsurprisingly, there now exist online influencers who coach work-from-home employees to unrepentantly engage in time theft while going undetected by their employers. In a 2026 European survey of more than 5,000 work-from-home employees, 80 per cent of respondents admitted to time theft.I have no doubt that time theft is similarly rampant among Canada’s privileged federal work-from-home class, and that this parliamentary petition is a last-ditch effort for many federal employees to stay on their gravy train. Sadly, since only 500 signatures are required for an electronic petition to be certified and presented to the House of Commons, they might just succeed.National Post Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.