November 4, 2014

Chris Ballard, MPP
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services
900 Bay Street, Mowat Block, 6th Floor
Toronto, ON
M7A 1L2

Mr. Ballard, MPP:

It is an honour and a pleasure to have you as my Parliamentary Assistant. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services and to outline some of the important work that lies ahead of us.

As you know, our government has a plan to invest in the talent and skills of our people, build modern infrastructure, support a dynamic and innovative business climate, and provide better retirement security to people across the province. At the heart of this plan are partnerships with businesses, people and communities, which will help our government grow the economy, create jobs and implement solutions that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.

This balanced and comprehensive plan is underpinned by a focus on fiscal prudence. The mandate letter I received last month from Premier Wynne reinforced our government’s commitment to balance the budget by 2017-18 and to pursue increased openness, accountability and modernization.

Parliamentary Assistants play a key role in delivering these priorities and have a responsibility to put our government’s plan into action.

The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services functions as a public-facing line ministry as well as an enterprise organization.

As Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services, your specific responsibilities include:

  • Strengthening consumer protection in cooperation with other ministries and partners, such as taking the lead on regulatory consultations regarding towing industry reforms to support the implementation of Bill 15 (Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act)
  • Leading a review of the province’s corporate and commercial statutes. Your goal is to ensure Ontario has modern laws that facilitate an efficient market and prosperous business climate
  • Assist in improving the procurement process for Ontario-based small and medium sized businesses by undertaking consultations and establishing a working group tasked with creating specific recommendations to better help guide vendors.

I am confident that together, working in collaboration with our partners in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, we can deliver on our commitment to the people we are privileged to represent and serve. I look forward to working with you to deliver our ministry’s mandate, build Ontario up — and help achieve a brighter future for every person in this province.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

The Honourable David Orazietti
Minister of Government and Consumer Services