Ottawa·NewEmails and text exchanges with the office of Ottawa’s mayor offer a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes conversations that took place at city hall as politicians and staff dealt with public pushback and confusion over the contentious mandate to return municipal employees to the office five days a week.Councillor, mayor’s office conferred about opposing efforts to rescind contentious return-to-office order Internal documents obtained by CBC News show a glimpse into how key figures at City Hall responded to the public pushback and confusion over the city manager’s return-to-office mandate. (Francis Ferland/CBC)Emails and text exchanges with the office of Ottawa’s mayor offer a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes conversations that took place at city hall as politicians and staff dealt with public pushback and confusion over the contentious mandate to return municipal employees to the office five days a week.Through a freedom of information request, CBC News obtained correspondence to and from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and his office, dated between August and Sept. 11, regarding the return-to-office mandate. Some of the pages were redacted.The communications obtained by CBC News contain no indication of any influence from other levels of government, showing instead how key figures at city hall sought clarity and co-ordination as a motion to cancel the mandate was introduced.Just weeks after the premier announced he would force provincial public servants back to the office full time, Ottawa’s city manager Wendy Stephanson announced the city would require its employees to do the same starting in January. The policy change would only affect a minority of the workforce as most employees have already returned, the city said.In response, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper introduced a motion to reverse that mandate. It was replaced at the last minute by Coun. Cathy Curry’s motion reiterating support for the city manager’s decision-making authority. Council passed Curry’s amended motion in a 15-10 vote. Supporters of Leiper’s original motion said they were caught off guard by Curry’s move on Sept. 24. This was her decision. Nobody asked her to do it. The provincial government didn’t ask her to do it … I didn’t ask her to do it.- Ottawa Mayor Mark SutcliffeTwo days before Leiper made his motion public on Sept. 11, an exchange occurred between a staff member from the mayor’s office and Curry through the messaging app Signal, documents show.“I assume you would oppose any efforts to rescind the work-in-office order?” reads that Sept. 9 message to Curry. The document obtained by CBC does not identify the sender.“Yes,” responded Curry. Curry declined an interview with CBC. In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Sutcliffe said the message wasn’t from him, but from his deputy chief of staff.”Those kinds of conversations are taking place all the time at city hall — verbally, by email, by text — to say, ‘Hey, what do you think of this issue? Where do you stand on it? And do you want to work together on improving the proposal … or turning it in a different direction?'” he said.A screenshot of a Signal app message between Coun. Cathy Curry and the mayor’s deputy chief of staff on Sept. 9, 2025, obtained through a freedom of information request by CBC Ottawa. (Freedom of information request/City of Ottawa)Sutcliffe said it’s important to underline that the return-to-office mandate was Stephanson’s call, and entirely under her authority.”This was her decision. Nobody asked her to do it. The provincial government didn’t ask her to do it … I didn’t ask her to do it,” he said.Leiper also said he saw nothing “untoward or unusual” about the correspondence.”I think it was a fairly normal interaction,” he said. “It wouldn’t be odd for either the mayor or for the proponent for any given motion to try to line up support from other councillors.”Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper speaks at a rally outside Ottawa city hall on Sept. 24. Leiper’s motion to reconsider the city’s looming five-day mandate failed to reach the voting stage because of a replacement motion by Coun. Cathy Curry. (Francis Ferland/CBC)Requests for clarityDocuments also reveal some confusion over the scope of the city manager’s authority in the weeks after the mandate was announced.In one email, Coun. Marty Carr asks the mayor’s director of policy if what her office had been telling the public — that “it was not a City Council decision nor does the Council have the authority to reverse this” — is correct. “That is what we have been telling people. Now, I realize I may have been wrong. Can you help,” wrote Carr on Sept. 4 to the mayor’s staff. Carr voted in favour of Curry’s motion in September.An exchange ensued between the mayor’s staff and the city clerk’s office on how best to discuss Stephanson’s authority in the context of Leiper’s upcoming motion. The clerk’s staff later clarified those rules.Opponents of the return-to-office mandate hold a rally outside Ottawa city hall on Sept. 24, the day Leiper planned to introduce his motion calling for its cancellation. (Francis Ferland/CBC)In an interview with CBC, Carr said it was important to clarify these details as she received more emails from concerned residents.She said because the emails were often sent to both her and the mayor, she asked the mayor’s office for guidance to be accurate.”What I wanted to avoid was the situation where I was providing my interpretation and they were providing their interpretation to the same constituent,” Carr explained.Leiper said he was “struck by the very earnest and excellent discussion” between Carr and the mayor’s office.”It was good to see that everybody was just making sure that we’re on side with the law,” he said.Internal documents also show that a day after Stephanson made the mandate public on Aug. 26, a manager with the clerk’s office sent an email to elected members “to provide some clarity” on how the mandate would affect them, after receiving “a number of inquiries.” The clerk’s office clarified in an email that the “five-day office standard does not apply to Members’ offices,” and elected members can decide on the appropriate work arrangements for their own staff.ABOUT THE AUTHORPriscilla Ki Sun Hwang is a reporter with CBC News based in Ottawa. She’s worked with the investigative unit, CBC Toronto, and CBC North in Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Iqaluit. She has a Master of Journalism from Carleton University. Want to contact her? Email priscilla.hwang@cbc.ca
Emails, texts offer glimpse into behind-the-scenes politics over citys 5-day office mandate
