November 4, 2014

Ms. Ann Hoggarth
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour
Ministry of Labour
400 University Avenue, 14th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1T7

Dear Ms. Hoggarth:

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 Labour 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. Our ministry is charged with helping to ensure the health and safety of Ontarians when they are at work. Our mandate is to improve and enforce health and safety while improving our prevention efforts.

As Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour, your specific responsibilities include:

  • Leading consultations on expanding and improving the internal responsibility system. The Premier has also asked me to work with the ministry’s Chief Prevention Officer to enhance our health and safety prevention capacity by augmenting our efforts. This work includes supporting the implementation of Ontario’s Integrated Health and Safety Strategy, including key Expert Advisory Panel recommendations that address the needs of small business and vulnerable workers. Please work with me and my staff, our ministry, the Chief Prevention Officer and our stakeholders — individual workers, business and labour. To this end, I urge you to meet with the various stakeholders who must be engaged to ensure your work is a success.
  • Assisting in my efforts to engage with companies that have introduced strong workplace mental health programs for their employees to draw upon their experience, with the goal of working with employers to expand employer-provided services available to Ontario workers. I request your help in this outreach and policy effort as we examine how to encourage changes in business culture and delivery that will result in savings for employers and a more productive, happier, safer workforce.
  • Assisting with other mandated priorities and related future projects, as assigned.

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,

Kevin Flynn signature

The Honourable Kevin Flynn
Minister of Labour