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“It was long overdue. This is a legacy of an accommodation which was brought in during COVID,” Brown told John Moore on Newstalk 1010’s Moore in the Morning.

“And as much as there are some benefits, you don’t get the same level of productivity,” he said, echoing Ford’s comments a day earlier.

On Thursday, the premier insisted it’s better for civil servants to see their colleagues in the flesh rather than on screens.

“How do you mentor someone over a phone? You’ve got to look at them eye to eye, over the water cooler, wherever, train them, camaraderie — plus the economy,” said Ford, noting the negative effect of remote work on commercial landlords in urban centres.

“I just use downtown ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, for example, the PATH. There’s hard-working entrepreneurs (whose) businesses basically just died when they weren’t seeing the flow of traffic,” he said of the stores, restaurants and services located beneath office towers.

“All the companies I’ve talked to — from the banks to the insurance companies to everyone else — everyone needs to go back to work.”

Brown said he believed the provincial decree “will set the tone (and is) going to have a cascading effect with other public servants.”

“The challenge was no one wanted to be the first mover on bringing this policy back out of the fear that you may lose staff,” the mayor said.

With Ontario’s unemployment rate sitting at 7.8 per cent and the economy on shaky ground due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada, it remains to be seen how many people would quit government jobs over the end of remote work.

Still, both the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU) and Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario (AMAPCEO) strongly oppose Ford’s move to force their members back into the office full time on Jan. 5, 2026.

During the COVID-19 pandemic that began here in March 2020 — and was officially over two years later — most public servants were able to work remotely at least part of each week.

In April 2022, the province said civil servants should only work from home two days a week.

Starting on Oct. 20, the same day MPPs return to the legislature following an extended 137-day summer recess, provincial employees will be expected back in the office four days a week.

But OPSEU president JP Hornick said “unilateral decisions like this are a slap in the face to the very workers who kept the (Ontario public service) running effectively throughout and after the pandemic.”

“Decisions like this about our members’ working conditions should be made in consultation with those workers, not through public announcements,” said Hornick, whose union represents about 40,000 Ontario public servants.

AMAPCEO, which represents 16,500 professionals in the bureaucracy, has launched , urging cabinet secretary Michelle DiEmanuele, head of the public service, to reconsider.

“We’ve shown time and time again that the public’s trust in us is warranted, and that we should be treated like the capable, trustworthy professionals that we are,” AMAPCEO said.

“Remote work works, and provides numerous benefits to employees, the government, and the people of Ontario, including: savings to taxpayers; higher worker morale and productivity; improved work/life balance; greater accessibility for workers of all abilities; reduced greenhouse gas emissions; reduced traffic congestion; (and) reduced pressure on our overburdened, underfunded public transit systems.”

As well, it could be a challenge to find office space for provincial public servants due to the delayed, over-budget renovation of the Macdonald Block complex at Queen’s Park.

Crown agencies, such as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG), which employs 1,300 people, must also abide by the premier’s order.

“OLG intends to fully comply with the five-day per week in-office standard,” said agency spokesman Tony Bitonti.

That’s good news for Sault Ste. Marie, which is home to OLG’s head office. The steel town has been hard hit by Trump’s tariffs.