Ms. Deborah Oakley
Chair
Provincial Judges Pension Board
2200 - 200 King Street West
Toronto ON M5H 3X6

Dear Ms. Oakley:

As you begin planning for 2022, I am pleased to write to you in your capacity as Chair of the Provincial Judges Pension Board (PJPB). Pursuant to the requirements of the Agencies and Appointments Directive, this letter sets out my expectations for PJPB for the upcoming fiscal year.

Ontario’s board-governed agencies are vital partners in ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to Ontarians. The work that you and your fellow board members undertake to establish the goals, objectives, and strategic direction ensures that the PJPB administers the Provincial Judges Pension Plan and manages the funds of both the registered pension plan trust and the retirement compensation arrangement trust.

Furthermore, the important setup work you are doing to transition the Provincial Judges Pension Plan from an account in the consolidated revenue fund to an externally trusted pension plan is greatly appreciated. This work will ensure the viability and security of the pension plan and I thank you for your willingness to serve in this role.

For 2022, I expect the PJPB to focus on providing effective oversight of the operational, strategic, legal and financial risks encountered by PJPB and the PJPP, including managing and mitigating the continuing impacts or associated risks of the COVID 19 pandemic.

To achieve the above, there is an expectation for effective governance and operations structure and processes that support and measure effective administration and performance of the redesigned Plan and its funds.

To this end, the PJPB will provide strong oversight of both the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario’s (IMCO), in its role in managing assets the PJPB is accountable for, and the Ontario Pension Board’s (OPB), in its role as management and with regard to its service level responsibilities in respect of the PJPP.

Further, this should support the delivery of superior client service to help members understand their pension entitlements, rights and responsibilities under the PJPP.

Agencies are expected to act in the best interests of Ontarians by being efficient, effective, and providing value for money to taxpayers. Our government’s primary focus is to protect every life and every job we possibly can. Without healthy people, we can’t have a healthy economy. With this in mind, we have identified eight government-wide priorities that are applicable to all agencies; these may be found in the Appendix to this letter. It is expected that the PJPB will comply with those priorities that are applicable.

Through these measures, we can continue to ensure that PJPB is continuing to fulfill its mandate.

I thank you and your fellow board members for your continued support, and for your valuable contributions. Should you have any questions/concerns, please feel free to contact Marc Rondeau, Associate Deputy Minister, Centre for Public Sector Labour Relations and Compensation, Treasury Board Secretariat at 416-325-4545 or at Marc.Rondeau@ontario.ca.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria
President of the Treasury Board

c: Kevin French, Deputy Minister, Treasury Board Secretariat, Secretary of Treasury Board and Management Board of Cabinet

Marc Rondeau, Associate Deputy Minister, Broader Public Sector Oversight and Compensation Division, Centre for Public Sector Labour Relations and Compensation, Treasury Board Secretariat

Mark Henry, Director, Managed Plans, Stakeholder Services and Filing Ontario Pension Board

Appendix – Government-wide priorities:

  1. Competitiveness, sustainability and expenditure management
    • operating within your agency’s financial allocations
    • identifying and pursuing opportunities for revenue generation, innovative practices, and/or improved program sustainability
    • complying with applicable direction related to supply chain centralization, Realty Interim Measures for agency office space
    • leveraging and meeting benchmarked outcomes for compensation strategies and directives
    • identify opportunities to advance the Ontario Onwards Action Plan
  2. Transparency and accountability
    • abiding by applicable government directives and policies and ensuring transparency and accountability in reporting
    • adhering to requirements of the Agencies and Appointment Directive, Public Service of Ontario Act ethical framework, accounting standards and practices, and responding to audit findings, where applicable
    • identifying appropriate skills, knowledge and experience needed to effectively support the board’s role in agency governance and accountability
  3. Risk management
    • developing and implementing an effective process for the identification, assessment and mitigation of risks, including planning for and responding to health and non-health emergency situations such as COVID-19
    • developing a continuity of operations plan that identifies time critical/essential services and personnel.
  4. Workforce management
    • optimizing your organizational capacity to support the best possible public service delivery
    • modernizing and redeploying resources to priority areas when or where they are needed
  5. Data collection
    • improving how the agency uses data in decision-making, information sharing and reporting, including by leveraging available or new data solutions to inform outcome-based reporting and improve service delivery
    • supporting transparency of data work and data sharing with the ministry, as appropriate
  6. Digital delivery and customer service
    • exploring and implementing digitization or digital modernization strategies for online service delivery and continuing to meet and exceed customer service standards through transition
    • adopting digital approaches, such as user research, agile development and product management
  7. Diversity and inclusion
    • developing and encouraging diversity and inclusion initiatives promoting and equitable, inclusive, accessible, anti-racist and diverse workplace
    • demonstrating leadership to an inclusive environment free of harassment
    • adopting an inclusion engagement process to ensure all voices are heard to inform policies and decision-making
  8. COVID-19 recovery
    • Identifying and pursue service delivery methods (digital or other) that have evolved since the start of COVID-19
    • Supporting the recovery efforts from COVID-19