The Canada Revenue Agency and the Union of Taxation Employees have confirmed to Global News the large tax centre on Stapon Road in Winnipeg has a bedbug issue.
Gary Esslinger, the union’s regional vice-president, told 680 CJOB workers at the government building – which has thousands of employees – discovered bedbugs over the past few months.
Although the problem, he says, is far from an infestation – only a small number of live bugs and eggs have been found – it’s something the workers and employer understandably want dealt with.
“They’ve found, over the last couple of months, maybe four or five actual bedbugs, and a few cases of eggs,” he said.
“The actual bedbugs and/or eggs… I would think 10-15 in total in the tax centre, two or three or four that were actually live.”
Esslinger said management hired an outside company to investigate, including the use of a dog trained to sniff out bedbugs.
“The employer and the union… we all understand it’s a concern to people.
“Everybody recognizes that something like that has to be dealt with because people don’t want to be taking them home, because they’re tough to eradicate.”
Esslinger said the Transcona-area office hasn’t been given the all-clear yet, but the issue is being dealt with.