Question Period Note: Optimizing Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Real Property Portfolio

Public Services and Procurement Canada will continue to provide sufficient office space to accommodate federal public service employees in its offices.

• Public Services and Procurement Canada continues to provide sufficient office space to support federal departments and agencies to deliver on their programs and mandates and for federal public service employees to accomplish their work
• This office space is safe and functional and respects legislative health and safety requirements
• Public Services and Procurement Canada is working with employees and partners across federal organizations to ensure we are providing office space aligned with a high performing public service delivering for Canadians
• In addition, Public Services and Procurement Canada is working with client departments and agencies to meet their future office needs. For the vast majority, this will mean the use of unassigned office space by default allowing flexibility for in-office and remote work
• Office portfolio reductions will continue to be aligned with Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat direction on prescribed presence in the workplace

If pressed on GCcoworking:

• GCcoworking continues to provide the federal workforce with flexible, innovative, and collaborative workspaces
• GCcoworking remains an option for federal public servants where supported by their department, and can help employees balance return-to-office requirements and personal life
• Public Services and Procurement Canada has 13 GCcoworking sites across Canada, serving 52 departments and more than 15,000 individual users

Public Services and Procurement Canada frequently reviews how efficiently it uses public funds when providing work environments for federal public servants to deliver programs and services to Canadians. The shift to a hybrid work environment and unassigned seating by default permits more effective utilization of office space that was simply not possible before when desks were assigned to public servants on a one-for-one basis. Allowing employees to choose the workspace that best suits their needs, based on their tasks at hand and their preferences, resulted in greater flexibility. Budget 2024 proposes to provide $1.1 billion over ten years, starting in 2024-25, to Public Services and Procurement Canada to reduce its office portfolio by up to 50 per cent. Public Services and Procurement Canada will achieve this reduction by disposing of surplus properties and identifying those with potential for housing.

We are currently working with federal departments and agencies to establish their long-term office accommodation plans to inform our future plans.

To complement departmental office spaces, there are seven (7) GCcoworking sites across the country: Vancouver, BC; Fort William, ON; Toronto, ON; Laval, QC; Moncton, NB; Dartmouth, NS; and Charlottetown, PEI. In addition, there are six (6) GCcoworking sites in the National Capital Region: Kanata; Orléans; Ottawa South; Downtown Ottawa; Downtown Gatineau (Hull); and Gatineau.

• As per the Horizontal fixed Asset Review, the management of the federal real property portfolio is currently distributed across 16 departments, 11 agencies and 38 Crown corporations
• Public Services and Procurement Canada is custodian of approximately 25% (6.9 million square metres) of the Government of Canada’s real property assets and about 6 million square metres is considered office buildings
• Over 50% of our office portfolio is within the National Capital Region
• Prior to the pandemic, Public Services and Procurement Canada office space was underutilized by approximately 40%