As vaccination rates rise and health regulations ease, the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) has launched a campaign in support of a return to the city’s downtown office towers, many of which saw workers abandon them at the start of the pandemic.

In a communiqué made public Thursday, the group called upon business owners to sign its “declaration of commitment,” a collective pledge that will see a return to office towers be safe, gradual and flexible.

“Today, an important step is being taken in the return to the (office) towers, in the revival of downtown,” said CCMM president Michel Leblanc in a video accompanying the pledge form. “We are proposing today a declaration of commitment (to that return) and inviting everyone to sign it.”

Leblanc says a CCMM poll of downtown workers found that more than 70 per cent expected an eventual return to downtown offices would go well. More than half of respondents wanted a return to be part of a hybrid model that would see flexible work schedules as well as telecommuting mixed with a presence in the office.