November 4, 2014

Parliamentary Assistant Harinder Malhi
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues
Room 1308, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1A4

Dear Parliamentary Assistant Malhi:

It is an honour and a pleasure to have you as my Parliamentary Assistant for Women’s Issues. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the role 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 work will play a key role in ensuring that every person who identifies as a woman or girl is able to participate as a full member of our society, exercise their rights — and enjoy their fundamental freedoms in the social, economic and civil life of our province.

Our priority will be to promote gender equality in Ontario, reflecting the diversity of our communities by taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the social and economic conditions that create inequalities.

As Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, your specific responsibilities include:

  • Outreach to diverse cultural communities to ensure that the work of the Ontario Women’s Directorate reflects the diversity of women in Ontario.
  • Supporting our government’s efforts to end gender-based violence, with the goal of an Ontario where women are free from the threat, fear or experience of violence. This will include working with women’s groups, service providers, community leaders and other experts across Ontario and involving them in our government’s efforts to change the attitudes that perpetuate gender violence and to improve supports to victims.

In addition, you will assist me in representing our government at events held to raise awareness about women’s equality issues and to support the efforts of women’s organizations and other partners who are working to achieve gender equality in Ontario.

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 Tracy MacCharles
Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues