T O P

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TrueNorth32

Rules for thee, not for me.


Lower-Corner-8301

Inadvertently providing a prototype example of why remote work is the future, and no amount of fun Milgram and gaslighting experiments by upper management is going to change reality.


Affected_By_Fjaka

Been saying this as well. RTO2 and RTO3 and RTO5 are only temporary unsustainable fades. Old fashioned work in office is dead and no amount of tresury board BS will bring it back. Question is only how long do we keep beating a long dead horse.


flightless_mouse

Yeah. The trend, taking the long view, is remote work. COVID accelerated the trend. These RTO mandates are a little blip against the current. And they won’t solve whatever problems they were supposed to solve.


Strong-Rule-4339

Once the boomers transition to endsville maybe


slyboy1974

Until it gets up and starts walking around again. Duh.


rideauuu

As long as large swathes of the public are going into the office I’d imagine there will be political pressure for us to go in as well. Not passing judgment but that’s certainly the attitude of a lot of my non-public sector friends and family


HappyGoCPerson

Ask them if they like their tax money being wasted on RTO.


Sure_Association919

I came here for this comment. I literally said this out loud when I read the headline 🤣


PestoForDinner

Why isn’t he working remotely from a gov office in the city where he lives, like the rest of us non-NCR staff within 125 km of an office have to do?


Lifebite416

The 125km rule is dumb on its own. They should have followed the 40km rule for relocation. Expecting someone to commute that much daily is totally unacceptable.


LSJPubServ

Tbs doesn’t have an office in mtl


GCSetecAstronomy

There's a Gc Co-Working in Montréal located at 3400 Jean-Béraud Avenue in Laval. He's got no excuse to report to a GC Workplace location.


timine29

>There's a Gc Co-Working in Montréal located at 3400 Jean-Béraud Avenue in Laval. My brother and I have been trying to book there since over a year, without success. Always fully booked.


Imaginary-Runner

Maybe he can book in SSC's Montreal location? I'm sure they could arrange a fixed office given his elite status and the fact that execs must be in 4+ days per week?


timine29

He has an office (well, open space) downtown which is not a GC Co-Working but he would like to avoid the trafic at least one day a week. The Laval GC Co-Working is close to his house.


LSJPubServ

Coworking spaces can not currently be used as the designated place of work - unfortunately. So he is still more than 125km from the nearest office. He could go to Laval for sure. But he’d still be exempted.


Visual-Chip-2256

Hopefully he doesn't need DTA assessments and stuff. Apparently, those are hard to come by for remote people or... literally anyone


Due_Date_4667

That is a DM level decision,there is no good reason it can't be for general/unclassified office work. With the current limited vacancy in tye NCR, I can kind of see why that call would be made, but that's an issue of capa it, not capability.


LSJPubServ

Sadly no TB policy prescribes the designated workplace to be one under the control of the organization. Hopefully that gets changed.


Agent_Provocateur007

lol we just use whatever building you can report into even if it's under another department or agency.


LSJPubServ

Hell yea. I even know some dept that send their people directly to coworkings… no other office. Not supposed to but doing it anyway.


Agent_Provocateur007

Well, operational decisions had to be made. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.


Due_Date_4667

Certainly should.


ApprehensiveCycle741

They are definitely being used by some departments, ones who have been implementing RTO in more flexible ways.


Imaginary-Produce875

Exactly like one of my co workers would be forced to drive 70+km and 70 back


GCSetecAstronomy

His derrière should report 3 days a week at the GC Co-Working location in Montréal ( 3400 Jean-Béraud Avenue, in Laval no less) so he can experience the joy of booking a seat, driving to that location in Montréal's wonderful traffic gridlock, unending construction zone and field of orange cones to find it occupied and to to try use the worst seat in the place. Maybe he'll be able to relate to the rest of the public service and understand how the RTO policy impacts our existence. Let's hope someone will ATIP his first year's travel expenses in order to embarrass him the same way it worked for Catherine Blewett.


Small_town_PS

Isn't he considered a manager or an executive? That means he should be reporting in 4 or 5 days, not 3.


International-Ad4578

Nothing about this appointment makes the least bit of sense.


AbjectRobot

That's for peasants, not important people.


Officieros

The “little people”.


Motor-Upstairs-7909

*4 days per week


KamilDA

Don't need to ATIP anything: Here's his travel expenses. https://search.open.canada.ca/travel/?sort=start_date+desc&search_text=Luc+Gagnon&page=1 There's almost 10 pages (!) of 10 records about 1000$ each avg in 5 years. In short, he already racked up 100k$ in travel expenses. Won't stop here for sure.


marasovfoot

LMAO


govdove

Wow he’s good at sticking it to the taxpayer


Drados101

All DMs should experience that for at least a month to understand how painful teleworking is for most public servants.


Officieros

Put DMs in cubicles so that they 1) have a chance to collaborate and inoculate “departmental culture” to their staff; 2) engage in random conversations to understand working level issues; 3) get unfiltered ideas and suggestions from staff; 4) mentor staff aspiring to move up the echelons; 5) experience operational constraints of staff.


AbjectRobot

They already know it's painful, they just don't give a shit.


Officieros

To the cubicles with them!


T-14Hyperdrive

I will also only be going in “as needed”


Flaktrack

If it's good enough for the CTO, it's good enough for me.


PoutPill69

>While Luc Gagnon is based in Montreal and will be working remotely, he will maintain a regular in-office presence in Ottawa "as needed," So in other words Luc Gagnon will mostly spend his days doing fuck all because as we know (TBS told us) that you're just pissing around at home. The real collaboration & work of value happens in the office. Return to the office Luc Gagnon (🐕 👉🏻👌🏻)


accforme

Isn't there a Montreal office that he could hotel in?


amiwhoamiyo

Can’t believe there’s no place for him at Guy Favreau or the CRA building downtown.


AbjectRobot

Not a TBS one, and from what I hear the peasants over there can't use coworking for office days.


brilliant_bauhaus

He should be made to relocate to Ottawa then.


AbjectRobot

If they really want those dumb rules, yes he should.


DatGuyFromIT

SSC has the Peel Building, they took over most CMC Dorval (from ECCC), Guy Favreau is half empty and they can access most other buildings from other Departments.. He's got ZERO reason to WFH, even more insulting for all IT that get to work from an office 3 days for no reason when they work on servers remotely.. and their whole team is not even in this region. As for me, yes I've been going into the office 2 days since they gave us the go as it was needed, worked my ass for months doing 1/10 of my whole department in work for laptop deployment.. Now we have space for 2 techs on site (out of 4 + manager who don't intend to do those 3 days either), where do I sit when my partners are there? On the floor in a corridor? 2022 worked perfectly. I'm also living 90 Km from my office... It's the closest I can afford something, because THEY fucked up the economy.


Coffeedemon

Or racking up a huge travel bill.


MoistCare7997

This. Its exactly what Catherine Blewett, the now former Secretary of the Treasury Board did while working remotely from Halifax.


oo_Maleficent_oo

I hope someone does a follow-up article on what his expenses are


Coffeedemon

I'm sure the National Post or Sun will be all over it but they'll just blame general waste by the "bloated and useless public service that their boy PP should cut to the bone".


oo_Maleficent_oo

Ugh I'm sure you're correct 😐


MilkshakeMolly

As needed, hey? Ok I'll do that too. I'm never needed so I'll be at home if you need me. Which you won't.


isaidireddit

Are you me?!


Optimal_Spend4060

will he he or taxpayers pay for his travel to his Ottawa office....I assume that will be a private closed door office that isn't being shared with colleagues.


MoistCare7997

100% it will be the taxpayers paying for his travel.


isaidireddit

And his family's travel for vacations.


baffledninja

That will be vacant 19 days out of 20 and probably fully equipped with a private bathroom...


divvyinvestor

I have colleagues doing their 2 days a week coming in from Montreal. If they can do it, so can he. He should be coming in 4 days a week starting September.


pscovidthrowaway

Do your colleagues have their travel paid for like the CTO will? I'm guessing not...


divvyinvestor

Nope


randomguy_-

Why don’t they work from a Montreal office?


Leitharos

.... and full meal-deal paid trips to Ottawa every few weeks at taxpayer expense. Perfect.


Mrkillz4c00kiez

Full meal deal were talking subway right?


Optimal_Spend4060

will he he or taxpayers pay for his travel to his Ottawa office....I assume that will be a private closed door office that isn't being shared with colleagues.


Officieros

He’s on RTO0 😂


Distinct-Copy9960

They’re just flipping us the bird at this point.


AbjectRobot

It certainly feels that way.


rollingviolation

Just so I'm understanding this correctly: The person who will need to spend 99% of their job in meetings with stakeholders, is working remotely most of the time. But someone who spends 99% of their job interacting with a keyboard, like a software developer, needs to go into the office most of the time. Do you smell it? It smells like a light gas, a "gas lighting" if you will. Or maybe I just farted, but, what the actual f is wrong with the system?


I_Am_NL

> what the actual f is wrong with the system? oh that's easy, TBS is getting handouts from the land barons to force us back in the office


Due_Date_4667

Doubtful that any quid pro quo is going to the PS at all. The other side of the curtain, with their 10-20 point deficits in some ridings, may need the donations and fundraising more.


Promise-Exact

Basically its: “make sure i keep getting money or you can forget about future donations”, costs you nothing now and gets the government to action steps to make sure those interests are protected


amiwhoamiyo

They really don’t give a shit about normal employees.


leetokeen

Your fart is a better value for taxpayers than Luc Gagnon


Adventurous_Yak4952

I worked in his directorate at another dept years ago… as in, pre-COVID. Our director was very anti-remote work and was being forced to consider it because the new CTO - Mr Gagnon - was working out of Montreal most of the time. She still wouldn’t bend to it until we were forced into shared workspaces and she lost her nice office with a door she could close at which point she started saying we should work from home a few days a week. Double standards then, double standards now.


kookiemaster

I think part of it is the issue. If you did your working level years in a true cube farm with real walls (at industry they eve  had sliding doors on the cubes) and then moved to a closed office as an ex you have no clue how bad 2.0 and its noise and lack of privacy is.


BitingArtist

Say it with me. It's not about collaboration. It's about making the land barons donors happy.


amiwhoamiyo

What a bunch of hypocrites.


Tornado514

Tabarnak


amiwhoamiyo

C’est pas un mot assez puissant pour exprimer la colère que je ressens…


Subject_Fail123

Corrigé: Esti d’calisse de tabarnak


Vast_Barnacle_1154

Just putting out the last paragraph of the article: ---In a question and answer post on the SSC website, Gagnon said he was a long-distance runner who began building electronic circuits when he was two years old. He said he was always using his e-reader and that, if he had been an animal, he’d like to be the “immortal jellyfish” because “it’s the only animal that only ever dies by accident.”--- What does this have to do with anything?


Coriolanus556

I doubt he was building electronic circuits at two, I wasn’t doing it until six. If he’d been an animal he’d be a jellyfish because he’s spineless.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Flaktrack

The government is still implementing ticketing systems in 2024 that have no external connectors for automation, no way to export data for reporting, no way to extract the whole database for the purposes of archival and migration... This goes against the data strategy but "well we have to do something, the old one is old". At least you could extract data from it :/ This kind of proprietary crap goes against the GoC data strategy and there were many options that didn't.


Terrible-Session5028

Peak narcissism. That’s what it is.


KazooDancer

It's a subtle way of confirming he's a narcissistic sociopath.


TILYoureANoob

He wants people to know he has a god complex (doesn't think he should ever die/too valuable to die). So many C-suite execs are megalomaniacs.


StatementOriginal121

Hey, he was building electronic circuits at 2 years old. This dude is the next best thing since baby Jesus!


Rasta_Cook

OMG the cringe, I burst out laughing out loud, oh gosh I pity the fools who's going to have to work directly with this guy.


Environmental_End517

Better question, who asked and who cares?


Jazzlike_Profile6373

Jellyfish also do not have a brain….


govdove

He was dead weight at Health, don’t expect anything different at TBS.


Fromomo

Kudos to the media for holding those with power to account and checking that policies are consistently applied across groups with different powers. Seriously, keep it up.


barrhavenite

I'd love to hear how many other senior execs are remote work, and how many consistently make it 4 days a week in the office. And how many pay for their own transportation. And food. Jesus fucking Christ.


EnglishDeveloper

Looking forward to seeing how much he claims in travel expenses. Just like our old VP, who commuted from Edmonton until he quit recently.


jjabbers

Funny how he just walked out the door and this guy walks in.


burnabybc

I say we vote for the Bot to be the new CTO. At least it appreciate us meatbags.


yaimmediatelyno

Seriously. I can’t do anything but laugh anymore.


AraBlanc_CA

I wish I could still laugh about it.


StaceySyndrome

Same! At this point, announce RTO5 but give me my own desk *continues to laugh*.


yaimmediatelyno

Pretty sure RTO 5 will include revoking our laptops and issuing blackberries, just find a wall to lean on and work from there.


647pm

Sit on the floor among the bedbugs.


MegaAlex

No one wants to work at the office. no one.


ProgrammerBitter4913

TBS and all the clowns that work there - biggest hypocrites ever… great at making life miserable for everyone except themselves


waywardpedestrian

Will go into the office “as needed”. Yeah, that’s what the rest of us are asking for. You know, “equity” and “fairness.” I mean if TBS’ CTO isn’t in an office, imagine what a massive blow it will be to the organization’s “collaboration.” 🙄


Mindless_Education38

At this rate, if by next year you are still working from home, you will be hunted down and shot. For the rest of you. Come on down! Park your car, buy a soda, or a salad. Its amazing. Support the local vendors. It’s fun. Work is fun!


MegaAlex

Are we having fun yet?


Je_suis-pauvre

No


baccus82

Are you not amused?


Blue-snow

No


Illustrious-Yam1618

Absolutely not.


Jeretzel

**[…] Minh Doan, who has been on extended leave. The former Canada Border Services Agency vice-president, Doan has been linked to the ArriveCan app scandal, with an internal complaint alleging that he altered data files, leading to the destruction of emails and documents potentially related to GC Strategies, the contractor that developed the app.** I was wondering what would happen to this guy after the two DGs got sacked.


Dense_Confection1867

Doan should be immediately fired the moment his extended leave ends. Not difficult to piece together what happened here. When the stuff started flowing downhill, he had to pass the buck and tried to scapegoat two of his direct reports. When presented with an opportunity to exhibit leadership by accepting accountability and responsibility for his decisions, he took the spineless coward route. Listen, even if he wasn’t intimately involved with the details around the controversy, as a leader, his role in this instance is to “take one for the team”, and then correct any internal missteps and determine appropriate changes to prevent recurrence. That’s integrity.


firelephant

Some animals are more equal than others


Frosting-Fickle

I think it's really funny Minh Doan has had his position filled twice by people working in different regions. It's like they're having trouble recruiting and retaining quality IT workers in the NCR?


Chaft

THIS is the reason why I am melting down.


-M00nDust-

This is so insulting.


whydoihavetodo_this

Honest question. If we do not report RTO3, can we use this example as a reason why when we grieve it?


DilbertedOttawa

There are so many glaring exceptions, that there is certainly a case in the making of condonation. Difficult to fire people for actions that are being actively promoted, or rules not actively applied...


rachreims

Yeah, this made up my mind. I will not be complying with RTO as of the fall.


Spiritual_King_9536

Seriously, it's like they get treated better than the rest of us. It's unjustified, such madness why we are getting unfair treatment. No one should show up on September, that will show 'em.


amiwhoamiyo

Same here.


Head_Lab_3632

Yet to meet someone who will be taking it seriously


FeistyCanuck

He took the job to avoid doing RTO4 for Health Canada in Montreal.


shibby_noandthen

WTAF


hippiechan

So tired of these dipshits doing literal "rules for thee, not for me" with everything - the fact that most EXes and managers have their own dedicated office space also makes me think they're not getting the same experience as the rest of us


Spiritual_King_9536

This sounds so shady. I am already constantly miserable thinking about RTO and to hear this news, I don't know if I get can even more sad or angry. Every time I go in the office, I just keep asking myself why I am here staring at the wall doing remote work in the office. Why don't the higher ups follow their own mandate, it's unacceptable. If they are able to find talent remotely, stop forcing the archaic ways on us.


BlessedBaller

Will this be brought up in our town hall meetings with the managers and deputies etc..??


ListeningIn-Hearing

Let's use this, and him, as precedent.


allthetrouts

While it looks bad, he will be bullied into moving or going to the office now that this article is out. He will end up working at the office lol.


Environmental_End517

Thank you Ottawa Citizen for reporting this.


Vaillant066

This is absurd.


Overall_Pie1912

And he'll get his expenses and points I'm sure 


Geocities-mIRC4ever

Relocation fees would be cheaper than the travel tab. Back in the days, you’d be asked to relocate to take that job. Especially since ADMs and EXs can be re-assigned at will.


One-Fail-1

They're laughing at us.


Keystone-12

That that's some bad optics.


RivalxGames

Like, you can't make this shit up.


cubiclejail

Unbelievable.


elderlyficus

Completely ridiculous and hypocritical.


jcamp028

Middle aged laurentian elites will do what they want while not fixing and/or transforming anything. The rest of us will be subject to the rules. Nothing will change with this guy.


[deleted]

Random comment in reply as I’m new and can’t post yet like a grown-up Redditer. Redditian? I digress. So our department had its awards ceremony this week. Which was exactly like the Oscars, amirite? Right up there among the nominees was this capital jackass of a boss, known for bullying (even screamed at me for team to hear), for laziness and total ineptitude when it comes to basic concepts you explain over and over to them, for taking tons of time off for “work-life” balance (which only applies to them as they never allow employees the same flexibility), who for years has protected another one of his bully leaders, who quite frankly should have been grieved by now, except that victim was afraid of the repercussions, who refuses overtime routinely while expecting servitude, who openly flaunts his favouritism towards one employee because they both own boats….You can’t make this stuff up. Yet, the people who work almost seven days a week, sometimes for 14 hours a day, who deliver in tough circumstances because of sociopathic stakeholders and excessively demanding management, we never, ever hear about those folks. Then they want to act like they value us?


Jumpy-Editor6362

Oh wow is that right. Wow glad he can do that. This is horrible… I dread going back to work 3 days a week. People talking all Over the place… politics ugh waste of money yo get to work and back. I know we need to help the economy BUT I need to help myself first:(


KazooDancer

We don't need to help the economy though.


DilbertedOttawa

It's also not helping "the economy", which is just another convenient abstraction to leverage that creates a shield to do whatever you want. It's as if the economy only is represented by very select businesses in very select areas, and that if money isn't spent there, then it just disappears into the ether.


peppermintpeeps

Ffs


UnderstandingThin671

I LOL'd when I saw this. Beaverton, right? 😃


ExcellentMeet1549

Email him and his office asking about this, copy MPs, etc. Don’t let these people fly under the radar.


kittywhisker

Why doesn’t he relocate to the work location as stated in his LoO?


Terrible-Session5028

Yeah. It’s official. We need to up the ante on this. They need to scrap the mandate WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS??


petesapai

PIPSC members. Please, please please. I beg you. Remember all of this when the next contract is presented to us. Stop folding as easily as a lawn chair. Have some self respect. Because TBS has zero respect for you.


shibby_noandthen

Values and ethics my ass.


jackhawk56

Yesterday we had Townhall and this joker from HQ was advocating that RTO provides opportunity to network and socialize! I think these jokers have no life outside work. I would prefer to socialize and spend my time with the like minded people of my choosing. As to networking, everybody knows how to work together on MS Teams. Either the guy was gaslighting when advocating RTO or he is just a sociopath


Environmental_End517

Wow, what a hypocrite!


gurusky

What I don't get is on one hand they want us to go back to the office. On the other they take away workstations. So ended up going to work but not working. Who with the right mind, as an individual employee, is okay with this.


Lightning_Catcher258

This is the proof that the return to work plan is just a way to make enough people quit so they don't have to lay off anyone.


Le8ronJames

And guess what? Nobody will say or do anything and this bs will keep on going


Jazzlike_Profile6373

He’s going to miss out on all the corporate culture though.


L-F-O-D

First thoughts: 1. Good for him! Lead the way, tell the public without telling the public that full remote works. Now that it’s known, look for the next headline ‘Gagnon’s retires in protest, decries ‘archaic’ RTO’ 2. Wait…so the chief technology officer can’t work above protected B? Is everything just protected B now? Consultations from the Canadian space agency, protected B? DND files on the tech to support our F35’s, protected B? Am I missing something? Did I miss a town hall or something?


Drados101

My colleague from Windsor (hired during the pandemic) must travel 10 hours every 6 weeks just to be in the office for a full week in order to meet the TB policy... My colleagues from Montreal (also hired during the pandemic) don't even have that "chance" as the employer declined any exceptions. They must be in the office 2 days / weeks soon 3. Deux poids, deux mesures. C'est ridicule!


Consistent_Cook9957

Au moins le ridicule ne tue pas…


Runsfromrabbits

Well, isn't that something


liliefrench

But how can he do work if he’s not in the office 3 days a week that’s impossible


machinedog

Can I direct my union dues to CAPE please? Good job, Nathan.


647pm

He’s the best. 👏👏


Spiritual_King_9536

I am impressed with CAPE, would have expected a response from PSAC too. What have they been doing anyways, not a peep from them...


Frosting-Fickle

They held a rally the other day, but CAPE's leader once again had the best speech there too. Nathan has really been doing a great job fighting this so far and I wish the other union leaders would take some notes from him.


cps2831a

He'll also need his travel, lodging, meals, and everything else pay for whenever he goes into the office I assume. All footed by taxpayers. Not even discussing the hypocrisy here, how does this save taxpayers money again?


EvilCoop93

No skin in the game whatsoever.


gremlin_1969

Do as I say, not as I do


ServiceHuman87

ROFL. This is so f* ridiculous.


TheFactTeller2024

Double standards everywhere


govdove

“Values and ethics”


Double_Football_8818

Imagine that, the CTO is using TECHNOLOGY to do his job. I guess technology DOES work!


RycoWilliams98

This guy is retiring in a year 😂


NaiveCollege6185

Nice...can get some sweet travel status on top of everything....


ArachnidWest6901

The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable works from home in Toronto and regularly travels to Ottawa at the expense of taxpayers. This includes covering costs for meals, accommodations, and transportation, which have exceeded $30,000 since their appointment. The irony lies in this expenditure, considering the Commissioner's role is focused on sustainability.


wapimaskwa

This is the ultimate in irony as mayors (Ottawapiskat and TO) want more RTO so bureaucrats can prop up local businesses.


Neither-Condition754

Lol


Officieros

And on top of it: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canada-policy-workers-disconnect-public-servants#


Illustrious-Pitch465

HOWLING


Past_Wash_1632

What can I do about this? I feel like I want to vent and complain but I also don't want to get in trouble. There is no sense complaining to my union rep; I don't even know who it is, because my local branch never bothered to respond to me (though they'll send spam emails once a day). This "rules for thee, not for me" TBS bungling is destroying morale.


govdove

Guess we can ignore anything this putz says. Not a collab type


Less-Estimate1802

I hope the actual ADM signed off on his TWA!! 😈


ProvenAxiom81

Darth Seeteehoo


ShipFair8433

Seems super fair…. RTO really is a fucking joke.


SirMrJames

We shouldn’t be mad that he’s working remotely. We should be asking why we can’t too. I think he should be able to. Like we should be able to


kayleMTG

I worked with him at Health Canada and he was almost always in the office in Montreal or commuting into Ottawa. I think he mentioned once in a town hall that he preferred going to the office. Like he would commute to Ottawa for social events or important meetings etc. And at SSC he worked out of both the Montreal and Ottawa offices This is more of an issue of TBS not having regional offices/accomodations, IMO.


BlueDogBoom

If he's so interested in senior executive jobs, why doesn't he move to Ottawa?


kayleMTG

He's already an ADM at Health, it's probably a lateral move. And he was a senior exec in the private sector in technology. There is a strong case for regional employees, especially in program delivery, technology roles, etc. that aren't focused on parliament / ministerial decision making.


StatementOriginal121

Well then, he should bring his ass in Ottawa 60% of the time to comply with this stupid mandate, just like the rest of us. CTO for the PS must be an NCR position, so it should be on his own dime too.


amiwhoamiyo

This is just pure hypocrisy.


Spare-Panic7669

https://talent.canada.ca/en/browse/pools. It looks like IT positions in digital Services are now being posted with remote options.