Ottawa office market experts left in the dark over feds’ return-to-work needs
Global News
Ottawa real estate watchers are calling on the federal government to be more clear about its workspace needs as public servants prepare to spend more time in the office.
Ottawa real estate watchers are calling on the federal government to be more clear about its workspace needs as public servants prepare to spend more time in the office.
Landlords and office brokers want to know whether the federal government is going to need more space to accommodate ramped-up return-to-office plans after years of stated plans to consolidate its office footprint.
“To speak very frankly, if there’s a plan, no one knows what it is,” said Shawn Hamilton, principal at Proveras Commercial Realty.
The federal government made a splash in the downtown Ottawa office market last month with the purchase of a 14-storey building at 131 Queen St., two blocks south of Parliament Hill.
Morguard Corp., the seller, pegged the value of the transaction at $148.2 million in a press release. The deal is expected to close at the end of August.
The property in question has been home to House of Commons staff since it was built two decades ago, but a spokeswoman for Public Services and Procurement Canada — steward of the federal office portfolio — said the acquisition was about “prudent financial management.”
“By transitioning from tenant to owner, PSPC is expected to realize long-term savings for the Crown,” department spokeswoman Michèle LaRose said in an email to The Canadian Press.
Treasury Board officials announced last month that executives in the public service will be required to attend the office full-time starting in May, and the rest of the public service must be in the office at least four days a week starting in July.
Ottawa Fire Services said they received multiple calls around 9:30 p.m. Saturday about a fire with people trapped in a high-rise building in the 300 block of Somerset Street West.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre proposed a tariff-free auto pact with the U.S. to revive Canada’s auto sector, at a press conference in Windsor, Ont. on Sunday.
The vice-president of the St. John's Junior Hockey League, says the violent game was an isolated incident and officials have since handed out suspensions to 18 players and coaches.
Alberta RCMP say just before 3 p.m. Saturday, a pickup truck pulled up beside a Honda Civic on Highway 2 and fired a weapon, resulting in the death of a driver.
Two men face charges ranging from mischief to assault and harassment following Saturday's Al Quds Day march in Toronto. Police say the suspects were counter-protesters.
Snow is continuing to fall in parts of Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, with heavy rain and freezing rain expected in some communities in the Maritimes and Ontario.
As demand for syrup has surged in recent years, Quebec's maple industry is evolving too, adding millions of new taps and turning to automation and better technology.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is concluding his time in Norway meeting with that country’s prime minister, along with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
Two people have been charged with first-degree murder after the remains of Masood Masjoody, reported missing in February, were discovered in Mission, B.C., police say.
A man and a teenage boy have died after a shooting in Winnipeg’s North End, and police are asking the public for information as the homicide investigation continues.
When you walk into the Club Pays coffee shop in Montreal, the first thing you see are the posters with Quebec sovereignty slogans plastered on every wall.
Police have identified the woman found dead inside a north Toronto home as 60-year-old Xian Wei Shao. She is believed to be Toronto's fourth homicide victim of 2026.
Ontario's public safety regulator has laid charges against the operator of a Scarborough trampoline park following a zipline accident in January that sent a boy to hospital.