Victoria, March 31, 2026 – In response to the BC General Employees’ Union’s call for government employees to work remotely full time amid high gas prices, Ryan Mitton, B.C. Director of Legislative Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), issued the following statement:
“Small businesses are already struggling with rising costs and cannot afford government tilting the playing field any further toward the public sector. The public service is the dominant employer in downtown Victoria and local small businesses depend on foot traffic from government offices. Pulling thousands of public servants out of their communities full time would deal another blow to businesses already squeezed by U.S. tariffs and mounting provincial taxes.
“It is unreasonable to offer special accommodation by using fuel prices as an excuse for widespread remote work. In addition to having one of the most flexible remote work arrangements in the country, B.C. government employees recently received a substantial wage increase of 12 per cent over the next four years.
“If anything, government should look at reducing the various taxes and costs that impact most British Columbians, not a select few.”
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For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Kalith Nanayakkara, CFIB
Kalith.Nanayakkara@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
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