Published plans and annual reports 2024–2025: Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery

Ministry overview

The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery provides vital programs, services, and products for the people and businesses of Ontario, as well as to ministries across the Ontario Public Service (OPS), provincial agencies, and the Broader Public Sector (BPS). We are there when it matters most, protecting consumers, delivering government services, unlocking value across government, securing data, and collecting revenues that fuel the province. Services are managed and delivered through the ministry’s business lines:

• Privacy, Archives, Digital, and Data
• Enterprise Business and Financial Services
• ServiceOntario
• Consumer Services
• Government Services Integration Cluster, and
• Enterprise Information Technology Services

Ministry’s Vision

The ministry’s vision is to deliver simpler, faster, better services for the people and businesses of Ontario and to drive meaningful change across the enterprise that improves program outcomes and protects critical services.

The ministry delivers vital public programs, services, and products — ranging from the provision of health cards, driver’s licences, and birth certificates to consumer protection and public safety — to help individuals, families, and businesses. The ministry is delivering on its vision through its diverse range of portfolios:

• making it faster, easier, and more convenient for people and businesses to access services including birth, adoption, marriage, death, organ donation, health cards, driver’s licences, vehicle registration, personal property, Ontario Photo Cards, accessible parking permits, outdoors and occupational licensing as well as land and business registration
• enhancing consumer protection and public safety legislative frameworks, providing advice and assistance to consumers, supporting business compliance through effective outreach and education, taking risk-based and proportionate compliance and enforcement action where necessary against non-compliant businesses, providing effective oversight of consumer and public safety administrative authorities responsible for regulating key sectors, and creating a prosperous business climate by updating and simplifying business laws
• providing stewardship of Ontario’s information and documentary heritage, managing public requests for information, enhancing privacy protection, access to information, and recordkeeping legislative frameworks, as well as advancing Ontario’s digital and data maturity through timely and responsive policies and the delivery of user-centred digital products

Enterprise-wide, we deliver internal infrastructure and support employees by:

• running, operating, and modernizing the Government of Ontario’s Information and Technology (I&IT) assets and resources, while enabling digital service delivery for Ontarians and Ontario businesses. This includes managing the government’s investment in technology platforms and applications, fostering consistency in service management, ensuring security of systems and data, and providing strategic advice and leadership on the effective use of technology
• delivering a range of enterprise services including financial processing, transfer payment administration, risk management and insurance, and a wide variety of other enterprise business services

Ministry Programs

Privacy, Archives, Digital and Data

The Privacy, Archives, Digital and Data program is responsible for making it easier for the people and businesses of Ontario to access government information, data, and services.

The program delivers data standards and policies; provides enterprise leadership in recordkeeping and, access to information and privacy; and promotes the preservation and access to archival records. This includes overseeing the Archives of Ontario, the largest provincial archival collection in Canada.

Enterprise Business and Financial Services

Enterprise Business and Financial Services support Ontario government ministries, OPS employees, agencies, external transfer payment partners, BPS entities, and the public. The programs deliver core internal business functions including whole-of-government financial processing, transfer payment administration, risk management and insurance, and a wide variety of other enterprise business services.

ServiceOntario Program

ServiceOntario, as the public face of government, is front-and-centre in service delivery, connecting Ontarians to critical government services. The program puts Ontarians first by providing them with choices when accessing government services whether in person, by phone or online. ServiceOntario ensures Ontarians can get what they need when they need it.

ServiceOntario delivers more than 100 government services on behalf of more than 21 ministries and agencies to individuals, families, and businesses in person, online, over the phone and by mail. The program offers secure online access to many high-volume services while continuing to ensure a strong community presence with ServiceOntario centres across Ontario. ServiceOntario is there for Ontario from newborns to new businesses, land to licenses, frontline access to government services, e.g., OHIP cards, to back-end production and fulfilment of government tokens. ServiceOntario’s professional, knowledgeable staff are experts in helping people navigate government, answer questions, and deliver services.

ServiceOntario delivers services, including health cards, driver’s licences and vehicle registrations, outdoor licensing (hunting, fishing), birth, marriage, death and organ donation, land and personal property registry, business services and digital reminders.

ServiceOntario’s focus has been and will continue to be on delivering better services to the people and businesses of Ontario.

Consumer Services

Consumer Services programs deliver policies, programs, and services that respond to the needs of the people and businesses of Ontario. As a modern regulator, Consumer Services develops and supports policies on a wide range of consumer and public safety issues and business law modernization. Through its responsibility for overseeing 12 administrative authorities, the ministry plays a critical role in consumer protection and public safety across a diverse range of sectors. The ministry also plays an important role in informing consumers about their rights under its various consumer protection and public safety statutes and regulations, including the Consumer Protection Act, 2002. The ministry is a recognized, trusted, and knowledgeable resource of information and essential tools for consumers and businesses.

Direct services to the public include educating consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities, offering voluntary mediation services for eligible consumer complaints, protecting broader consumers’ interests through proportionate and risk-based compliance tools, and taking appropriate risk-based enforcement action against non-compliant businesses.

Consumer Services continues to provide services to the public through its Consumer Protection Ontario contact centre, outreach and education services, and compliance and enforcement work. The ministry also delivers legislative and regulatory changes to consumer protection statutes to reflect the evolving marketplace, address emerging consumer harms, and better support businesses to be compliant. Consumer Services also provides policy leadership and support for vital events (i.e., birth, marriage, death, name change, adoption, stillbirth) and the Accessible Parking Permit Program. The ministry regulates and licenses businesses in several sectors, including payday lenders and loan brokers, bailiffs, collection agencies, and consumer reporting agencies.

The ministry also administers the cemetery closures, cemetery abandonment, war graves, and burial sites provisions of the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002. The burial sites provisions set out a process for ensuring that human remains found outside cemeteries, including those of Indigenous peoples, are treated with dignity and respect. The ministry is bringing its expertise in this area to support the development and implementation of the government’s strategy to work with Indigenous communities in respect of unidentified burials associated with the former Indian Residential Schools.

Government Services Integration Cluster

The Government Services Integration Cluster (GSIC) provides strategic advice and cost effective technology solutions for the Ministries of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Public and Business Service Delivery, Red Tape Reduction, Infrastructure, and Francophone Affairs. It delivers the I&IT necessary for its partner ministries and agencies to operate, modernize, and transform the delivery of services to the public, businesses, and employees.

GSIC also enables enterprise business, human resources (Workforce Information Network (WIN) and financial services (Integrated Financial Information Systems) for efficient, effective, and informed government operations, as well as enterprise customer and business service experience delivered through ServiceOntario. It empowers and integrates programs across government with common tools, solutions, and enterprise platforms including Engagement Platform, Enterprise Information Management, Identity and Access Management, Shared Utility Service, Data Exchange Platform, and AccelerateON.

This includes the:

• engagement Platform (previously called Enterprise Contact Centre Service) which enables over 40 programs and connects up to 25 million interactions annually, connecting people and businesses with their government
• WIN which enables processing of annual payroll and direct pay deposits for OPS employees
• financial enterprise resource planning applications such as the Integrated Financial Information System that supports approximately 46,000 OPS users across the government; and
• identity and Access Management’s digital Identity Verification Service which allows external users the ability to easily verify their identity to access applicable government programs and services

Enterprise Information Technology Services Program

The Enterprise Information Technology Services Program provides strategic leadership in the use of I&IT to modernize Ontario’s public services and meet the changing needs of Ontarians and the Ontario Public Service, agencies, and the Broader Public Sector.

The program is responsible for developing plans that focus on evolving I&IT capabilities to transform public service delivery, providing user-centred digital solutions, and creating positive outcomes for Ontario. This includes an enterprise I&IT action plan to realize the benefits of strategically managed technology, products, and services, as well as coordinate technology investments across ministries. These plans will transform public service delivery, provide user-centred digital solutions, and better value for taxpayers' dollars.

The program ensures the ongoing integrity and availability of systems and data, the implementation of common infrastructure, governance and accountability, the development and maintenance of OPS I&IT operating policies, technical standards, and guidelines and delivery of OPS-wide common services such as hosting services, service management, and network capabilities.

2024–25 Strategic plan

The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery is focused on improving government services to the public, supporting businesses, and making government function efficiently. The ministry is taking a customer-focused approach to build simpler, faster, better access to services, saving Ontarians and businesses time and money.

Ministry Primary Goals

1. Service Delivery Excellence

Driving operational excellence and continuous improvement in service delivery and transforming and streamlining delivery models across government.

• continue to make access to services simpler, more convenient, more accessible, and more responsive for individuals, families, and businesses by applying user-experience design principles
• continue to offer businesses and not-for-profit corporations’ direct access to services through digital self-service to more than 90 business services, 24 hours a day
• continue to explore new ServiceOntario in-person service delivery models to ensure continued customer service excellence and reliable and accessible services for customers while co-designing models with communities and ensuring community presence
• continue to discover, onboard and support ServiceOntario Contact Centre lines for partner ministries, including for programs such as, Social Assistance Digital Application, Long-Term Care Action, Ministry of Transportation Senior Appointment Booking, Community Emergency Preparedness Grant and Canadian Ontario Housing Benefit:
  • this includes proceeding with the Replacement Engagement Platform Strategy to ensure the required technology foundation is in place to support the One Contact Centre strategy and ongoing program enablement through ServiceOntario
• expand specialized health card services to all ServiceOntario centres to provide Ontarians access closer to home and during evenings and weekends. These services include registrations for work permit holders, returning residents to Ontario, and Ontarians experiencing homelessness
• ensure Ontario remains a leader in the transfer payment digital space and continues to improve the user experience by:
  • innovating the Transfer Payment Ontario system to enable a simpler and faster experience for service delivery partners
  • integrating an account authentication process to ensure a higher level of security when the public is accessing the system; and
  • moving the system infrastructure to a cloud-based platform to enhance system performance, as well as administrative controls, and ensure faster recovery time in the event of a system outage
• continue engagement and partnership strategies with businesses, to help them better understand and more easily comply with consumer protection laws. Improved business compliance will also benefit consumers and help to create a fairer marketplace
• continue to implement the enterprise I&IT action plan to accelerate government programs, service modernization, and transformation
• continue to adapt to trends in the marketplace, such as complementing contact centre services with conversational interactive voice response and strengthened internal knowledge management practices to provide customers with a consistent and complete customer experience
• continue to work with ministry partners to deliver client centric services through the development and design services of webforms and PDF forms that support access to OPS services
• continue to improve the user experience on ontario.ca, including improving the search experience, with increased ability to understand user queries and respond with more accurate and context-aware results
• work with partner ministries to solve data challenges in priority sectors for government. This includes the Data Standards for Planning and Development Applications initiative which, in partnership with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, is ensuring consistency in terminology/data collected across municipalities to streamline development application processes
• continue to optimize the quality, value and use of government information while ensuring Ontarians benefit from best-in-class recordkeeping, access to information, and privacy protections

2. Digital Transformation

Transforming service delivery through a digital first — but not digital only — approach to lower costs and deliver simpler, faster, and better services for the people and businesses of Ontario.

ServiceOntario Enhancements

• continue to make more services, for individuals and businesses, available online for easier access, where and when they are needed
• the addition of an “add to calendar” feature will be made available for new e-mail reminders

Digital Dealership Registration

• continue further improvements to the Digital Dealership Registration platform in 2024–25, including onboarding more dealerships. As of February 2024, over 500 dealerships have been onboarded to the platform. ServiceOntario will continue to engage with the motor vehicle dealers, law enforcement, and private service providers to improve the Digital Dealership Registration platform based on user feedback

Improving the Digital User Experience

• build on the successful launch of a cloud-enabled digital service delivery platform that is making it easier for Ontarians to manage their government products and services online through a personalized, secure, and seamless user experience. 2024–25 will focus on providing customers with more choice by offering new online services and a focus on continuous improvement for services and features already onboarded to the platform

Automatic Vehicle Permit Validation

• automate vehicle permit validation to create a simpler, easier process for Ontarians who meet program requirements, ensuring that drivers in good standing do not have to renew their vehicle permits

Contact Centre Services Modernization

• continue to expand services provided on behalf of partner ministries through the One Contact Centre for Ontario initiative. Since July 2022, ServiceOntario completed 55 engagements with ministries, 35 of which are proceeding to partner with ServiceOntario, and 12 of those have been onboarded

Appointment Bookings

• continue to improve the appointment booking experience and expand the availability of appointments to more locations

Modern Enterprise Services

• continue to enable a modern digital workplace by driving OPS-wide adoption of new productivity, communication, and collaboration tools
• ensure government projects that involve creating or improving programs or services meet Ontario’s Digital Service Standard throughout their development, through user research and Digital First Assessments
• enable the transparent, responsible, and accountable use of artificial intelligence (AI) through progress on the Trustworthy AI Framework, including the establishment of an AI Expert Working Group to provide the Ontario government with advice and recommendations
• increase transparency and promote best practices on the use of generative AI by publishing guidance to help ensure appropriate use by ministries and public agencies
• increase transparency and promote best practices on the use of generative AI by publishing guidance to help ensure appropriate use by ministries and public agencies
• enable a digital identity verification service to modernize the identity proofing process for Ontarians to access government services
• lay the foundation for a cloud-based future, with a target to have approximately 50% of government applications (workloads and data) hosted in the cloud by March 2025. This approach will allow for an increased focus on value-added activities that are core to government operations and also result in:
  • reducing the dependence on legacy technology while ensuring the sustainability of mission and business critical applications
  • enabling innovation in program and service delivery; and
  • ensuring the agile deployment of platforms and the ability to add capacity when demand for applications surges
  • ensuring the agile deployment of platforms and the ability to add capacity when demand for applications surges
  • ensuring the agile deployment of platforms and the ability to add capacity when demand for applications surges
• continue to partner with ministries to explore opportunities to address accessible, affordable broadband services for underserved and vulnerable populations
• continue to implement a modernized voice services strategy for unified communication and collaboration that will replace end-of-life telephone systems
• through Ontario’s Cyber Security Strategy:
  • enhance the security and resilience of provincial information systems and modernize safeguards, such as identity access management controls and single secure easy-to-use sign-on capabilities; and
  • through operational collaboration. grow supports available to OPS ministries, agencies, and BPS entities to, build cyber maturity and defend against cyber attacks. This approach would include ensuring the wider adoption of cyber security best practices, including risk assessments, education and awareness programs, and technological partnerships
• advance digital maturity across ministries to provide better services for Ontarians and unlock the potential of data to increase innovation and economic growth. These efforts include:
  • developing action plans that enable greater enterprise collaboration in the design and delivery of technology products and platforms
  • advancing digital and data governance, technology capacity building and benchmarking through the development of policies, procedures, and target state objectives, and
  • building user-centered products and platforms that accelerate the government’s technology and service modernization, e.g., Notify to send email, text message, or phone call renewal reminders for government documents

3. Driving Efficiencies

Streamlining critical services and back-office functions

• continue increasing ServiceOntario workforce agility by implementing multi-skilling frontline and contact centre staffing models and using soft phones (leveraging cloud-based technology) to make telephone calls over the internet via computers/laptop is reducing operational costs
• deliver critical services efficiently, including transfer payment administration, financial processing, and other enterprise business services
• continue to enable government-wide transfer payment modernization, including the centralization of transfer payment administration onto one digital platform and ensuring a consolidated source of transfer payment data for evidence-based decision making

4. Supporting Businesses

Simplifying Ontario’s regulatory framework and reducing the administrative burden on businesses to make it easier to engage with the Government of Ontario

• optimize the Ontario Business Registry program for greater government oversight, revenue collection, and to be able to offer more service channels for an improved business experience
• evolve the ServiceOntario Account for Business to provide an improved user experience
• continue working on supporting regulations needed to implement the new Consumer Protection Act, 2023. This Act will, once in force, build on existing protections to strengthen consumer rights and make it easier for businesses to comply with consumer protection requirements. The ministry will begin stakeholder consultations in 2024 on draft regulations required to bring the new Act into force
• continue working on the supporting regulations to fully implement amendments to the Consumer Reporting Act. These amendments will, once in force, give Ontarians greater access to their credit information and greater ability to limit how their credit information is shared with third parties, while removing certain burdensome requirements imposed on business
• continue to demonstrate action and strengthen consumer protection with enhancements to Ontario’s new home warranty program, in partnership with Tarion, an independent not-for-profit corporation with responsibility for administering the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, including new home warranty and protection claims
• work with the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, Ontario’s regulator of new home builders and vendors, to continue building confidence in new home buyers
• in addition, the ministry continues to support Housing Supply Action Plans, developing strategies to support the goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031
• make it easier for businesses to access the information they need to get started, create jobs and grow. The ministry is building a centralized permit and licence tracker on Ontario.ca/business to give businesses real-time updates on the status of their permit and licence applications

5. People and Culture

Ensuring and improving equitable access to services for all Ontarians, while also strengthening technical skills development and historical preservation within the OPS.

• outfit all ServiceOntario centres across the province with the ability to offer translation services/devices, anticipating that 100% of ServiceOntario service centres will have translation capabilities by Fall 2024, so that more Ontarians can get the help they need in the language of their choice
• continue to make government services more accessible with a dedicated email account to support accommodation requests ahead of ServiceOntario service centre in-person visits
• continue to engage communities and partners in the co-design of service delivery and share information about products and services. For instance, working with Nishnawbe Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery Page 17 of 144 Aski Nation (NAN) and Ministry of Indigenous Affairs of Ontario (IAO) to co-design a NAN-led service delivery solution that improves access to government services. ServiceOntario also launched a new graphic plate for use by the Garden River First Nation
• continue to work closely with Service Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to support asylum seekers arriving in North York and Durham Region by sharing information and booking appointments for provincial products, e.g., health cards, driver’s licences, and Ontario photo cards
• continue to enhance contact centre staff awareness and knowledge of accessibility supports to better support all Ontarians, including developing an enhanced accessibility training package for contact centre staff; and co-designing and engaging with the Accessibility Standards Advisory Council when designing new contact centre services, programs, and new channel offerings
• modernize technical training in information management and collecting, preserving, and sharing records of provincial and historical significance in the OPS and BPS

Key Performance Indicators

The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery has several key performance indicators (KPI) that it uses to measure ministry priorities, such as customer satisfaction and service standards/guarantees. It is important for the ministry to know the level of customer satisfaction and whether the ministry is meeting its commitments to clients in a timely manner.

Ministry

Detailed financial information

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Table 2: Combined Operating and Capital Summary by Vote

For additional financial information, see:

• Expenditure Estimates 
• Public Accounts of Ontario: past editions
• Ontario Budget: past editions

Administrative authorities

The ministry oversees 12 administrative authorities that are governed by several pieces of legislation; they are self-funded through the fees they charge their respective sectors. The Safety and Consumer Statutes Administration Act, 1996, provides a framework for the delegation of the administration of legislation with respect to condominium management, electrical safety; regulation of motor vehicle dealers and salespersons; travel sales by travel agents and wholesalers; regulation of bereavement services (i.e., funeral, cemetery, crematorium, and transfer services); as well as the regulation of real estate salespersons, brokers, and brokerages.

There are also individual statutes that apply an administrative authority’s oversight framework to technical and electrical safety standards, safe evacuation practices related to underground infrastructure, new home warranties, new home builder licensing, the condominium sector, and Ontario’s wine appellations.

These individual statutes and the Safety and Consumer Statutes Administration Act, 1996, establish the accountability and governance framework that applies between the ministry and the not-for-profit corporations that administer legislation in specific consumer protection or public safety areas.

The ministry monitors administrative authorities’ service delivery and is responsible for the legislation and regulations. The administrative authorities typically deliver services such as licensing, inspections, education, complaint handling, and enforcement. As part of the Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act, 2020 which was passed in July 2020, the ministry made improvements to the governance frameworks of the administrative authorities and created consistency between the individual statutes and the Safety and Consumer Statutes Administration Act, 1996. The ministry continues to implement and proclaim remaining sections of the Rebuilding Consumer Confidence Act, 2020.

The Bereavement Authority of Ontario administers most provisions under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002. The Bereavement Authority of Ontario is responsible for licensing and regulating (e.g., conducting inspections and investigations) operators of cemeteries, crematoriums, and transfer services; salespersons for those operators; funeral directors; funeral establishment operators; and funeral preplanners. The Bereavement Authority of Ontario is also responsible for the management of a Funeral Services Compensation Fund that compensates persons who suffer a financial loss due to a failure on the part of certain licensees under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002, to comply with that Act, its regulations, or the terms of an agreement made under that Act.

The Condominium Authority of Ontario is responsible for administering delegated provisions under the Condominium Act, 1998. The Condominium Authority of Ontario provides easy-to-use information to help owners and residents understand their rights and responsibilities, mandatory training for condominium (condo) directors, resources to help condo owners and residents resolve common issues associated with condo living, and a public database of key information about every condominium in Ontario. In addition, the Condominium Authority of Ontario oversees and operates the Condominium Authority Tribunal, a unique online dispute resolution system that helps to resolve prescribed disputes under the Condominium Act, 1998.

The Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario administers the Condominium Management Services Act, 2015. This includes administering licensing for all condo managers and condo management providers, establishing and delivering the required education program for condo managers, maintaining a list of all licences in the province, dealing with complaints, administering the discipline committee and appeals committee, and enforcement.

The Electrical Safety Authority is responsible for administering Part VIII of the Electricity Act, 1998, enforcing the Ontario Electrical Safety Code, the licensing of electrical contractors and master electricians, overseeing electrical distribution system safety, and electrical product safety.

The Home Construction Regulatory Authority is responsible for the mandatory licensing and regulation of new home builders and vendors under the New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017. It also maintains the Ontario Builder Directory, which provides consumers with information about licensed new home builders and vendors. In addition, it holds new home builders and vendors to account for violations of the Code of Ethics and operates a formal complaints process regarding builders and vendors of new homes.

Ontario One Call (also known as One Call) administers the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012. The Act requires owners of underground infrastructure to be members of One Call and to respond to requests for the location of the infrastructure from excavators and homeowners. One Call operates a locate request routing service and enforces compliance by its members, which include gas, electrical, and telecommunications utilities, as well as municipalities.

The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council administers the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002, and the Motor Vehicle Dealers Compensation Fund — a fund for consumers who have lost money related to a vehicle purchase or lease involving a registered motor vehicle dealer. The council registers motor vehicle dealers and salespersons and conducts inspections and investigations to ensure compliance with the Act.

The Real Estate Council of Ontario administers the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 (formerly the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002), which regulates the conduct of real estate and business brokerages, brokers, and salespersons. The Real Estate Council of Ontario registers salespersons, brokers, and brokerages; enforces standards to obtain/maintain registration; requires brokers and salespersons to meet educational standards; conducts inspections of brokerage offices to ensure compliance with the act; investigates complaints; and carries out enforcement action with respect to violations of the Act.

Tarion administers the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, which ensures builders and vendors provides warranties and protections to new home buyers and owners. Tarion enrolls new homes for warranty coverage; resolves warranty disputes between builders/vendors and homeowners; maintains a Guarantee Fund that provides for the payment of compensation under the plan; and informs and educates new home buyers and builders.

The Technical Standards and Safety Authority administers the Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000. This includes enforcement of public safety laws in industry sectors such as amusement devices, elevating devices, ski lifts, fuels, boilers and pressure vessels, and operating engineers.

The Travel Industry Council of Ontario administers the Travel Industry Act, 2002. It registers travel agents and travel wholesalers, monitors their financial performance to identify financial risk, inspects their operations to ensure compliance with the act, and manages Ontario’s Travel Industry Compensation Fund. Customers with eligible claims for travel services paid to or through a registered travel agent, but not provided, may be reimbursed from the fund up to certain amounts.

The Vintners Quality Alliance Ontario (operating as the Ontario Wine Appellation Authority) is responsible for administering an appellation of origin system governing the production and quality standards of Ontario wines under the Vintners Quality Alliance label in accordance with the Vintners Quality Alliance Act, 1999.

Ministry organization chart

• Hon. Todd J. McCarthy — Minister
  • Deputy Minister — Renu Kulendran
    • Director Legal — Fateh Salim
    • Director Communications — Jennifer Proulx
    • Director Operations — Caitlyn Tindale (A)
    • Chief Digital and Data Officer & Privacy Officer 
      Associate Deputy Minister Privacy, Archives, Digital & Data — John Roberts
      • ADM Policy & Data — Melissa Kittmer (A)
      • ADM Archives Division and Archivist of Ontario — Jacqueline Spencer (A)
      • ADM Digital Innovation and Product — Kaly Lalonde (A)
    • Corporate Chief Information Officer Government Information Technology Ontario — Mohammad Qureshi
      • Chief Information Officer Infrastructure Technology Services — Mike Amato (A)
      • Chief Information Security Officer Cyber Security — Daniela Spagnolo
      • Chief Technology Officer Enterprise Technology Strategy — Joyce Drohan (A)
    • ADM Enterprise Business Services — Flolet Loney-Burnett
    • ADM Enterprise Financial Services — Brandon Chaput
    • Chief Information Officer, Government Services Integration Cluster — Manish Agarwal (A)
    • Chief Administrative ADM Corporate Services — Natasha Holland (A)
    • ADM Consumer Services Operations — Teepu Khawja
    • ADM Policy Planning & Oversight — Barbara Duckitt
    • Chief Services Officer Associated Deputy Minister ServiceOntario — Dafna Carr
      • ADM Citizen Experience, Strategy and Integration — Joanne Anderson
      • ADM Customer Care — Nelson Loureiro (A)
      • ADM Registries and Licencing Services — Beverly Thomas-Barnes (A)

Acts administered by the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery

• Alternative Filing Methods for Business Act, 2020, S.O. 2020, c. 7, Sched. 1
• Apportionment Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.23
• Archives and Recordkeeping Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 34, Sched. A
• Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 3
• Assignments and Preferences Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. A.33
• At Your Service Act, 2022, S.O. 2022, c. 2, Sched. 1
• Bailiffs Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.2
• Boundaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.10
• Business Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.16
• Business Names Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.17
• Business Regulation Reform Act, 1994, S.O. 1994, c. 32
• Change of Name Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.7
• Co-operative Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.35
• Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.14
• Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19
• Condominium Management Services Act, 2015, S.O. 2015, c. 28, Sched. 2
• Consumer Protection Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. A
• Consumer Reporting Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.33
• Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.38
• Corporations Information Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.39
• Discriminatory Business Practices Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. D.12
• Electricity Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 15, Sched. A, in respect of Part VIII
• Electricity Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 15, Sched. A, in respect of Part VIII
• Electronic Land Registration Services Act, 2010, S.O. 2010, c. 1, Sched. 6
• Electronic Registration Act (Ministry of Consumer and Business Services Statutes), 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 44
• Extra-Provincial Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.27
• Factors Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.1
• Film Content Information Act, 2020, S.O. 2020, c. 36, Sched. 12
• Financial Administration Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.12, in respect of section 1.0.19 and clause 38 (1) (a.3)
• Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.31
• Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 33
• Government Services and Service Providers Act (ServiceOntario), 2012, S.O. 2012, c. 8, Sched. 21 (Repealed under Section 10.1 of the Legislation Act, 2006)
• Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, in respect of Part III
• Home Inspection Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 5, Sched. 1 (not yet in force)
• Horse Riding Safety Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 4
• Land Registration Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.4
• Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5
• Limited Partnerships Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.16
• Marriage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.3
• Ministry of Consumer and Business Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.21
• Ministry of Government Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.25, except in respect of services provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat
• Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.M.41
• Motor Vehicle Dealers Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. B
• Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.56
• New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 33, Sched. 1
• Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010, S.O. 2010, c. 15
• Ontario Gazette Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.3
• Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.31
• Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012, S.O. 2012, c. 4
• Partnerships Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.5
• Payday Loans Act, 2008, S.O. 2008, c. 9
• Personal Property Security Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.10
• Protection for Owners and Purchasers of New Homes Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 33, Sched. 2 (not in force)
• Registry Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.20
• Repair and Storage Liens Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.25
• Retail Business Holidays Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.30
• Safety and Consumer Statutes Administration Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 19
• Securities Transfer Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 8
• Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act, 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 7, Sched. 56
• Supporting Local Restaurants Act, 2020, S.O. 2020, c. 31 only in respect of Parts III, IV and V of the Act
• Technical Standards and Safety Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 16
• Ticket Sales Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 33, Sched. 3
• Travel Industry Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. D
• Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C
• Vintners Quality Alliance Act, 1999, S.O. 1999, c. 3
• Vital Statistics Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. V.4

2023–24 Annual report

Highlights of 2023–24 Results

The Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery is transforming services to put people at the centre of everything we do.

Some of the ministry’s achievements include:

Service Delivery Excellence

• as of February 2023, ServiceOntario delivered more than 47.2M interactions (including referrals, information, and transactions) through its network of centres, online, by phone, and mail.
• as part of the Land Registry Footprint Project, a total of 14 land registry offices were optimized. This space can now be released or enable ServiceOntario to re-imagine the in-person experience in select locations.
• as of Q3 2023–24, 89% of ServiceOntario services with a service standard met or exceeded their target. As of Q3 2023–24, more than 73% of calls to the Contact Centre are answered in two minutes or less, while more than 86% of customers waited less than 20 minutes at service centres.
• expanded availability of appointment bookings to about 140 ServiceOntario locations. Ontarians have booked 757,000 appointments using the new system since its launch in early 2023.
• expanded eligibility for virtual appointments for Health Card renewal to eligible Ontarians 18+ who do not require a new photo or signature for their Health Card Renewal, or have a permanent photo/signature exemption.
• ServiceOntario has made it easier and more convenient for families and businesses in the community to access the services they depend on:
  • opened a new service centre in Eganville, which is co-located in a community hub model. This service centre offers the most common ServiceOntario services as well as Employment Ontario’s basic skills training
  • reopened a service centre in Pickle Lake through a partnership with the Township of Pickle Lake. Creating a community hub for residents of Pickle Lake and the surrounding area to access services from both levels of government
  • launched the Reaching All Canadians pilot with Service Canada at College Park, Hamilton and Thunder Bay service centres, providing specialized support that connects vulnerable people with Service Canada’s outreach team so they can seamlessly navigate federal and provincial government services for simpler, faster and better services
  • launched pilot with Kerry’s Place Autism Services on the Employment Works program at College Park and Whitby service centres
  • launched the Niigaaniin Services Mobile Hub — ServiceOntario’s first private mobile service delivery unit with the North Shore Tribal Council
  • launched a Mobile Service Delivery Pilot based in Huntsville that will bring government services directly into small and underserved communities
  • partnered with Ministry of Health on the expansion of Health Card Harmonization to 26 private service centres so customers can complete all Health Card transactions. 31,490 Ontarians served in 2023–24
  • launched a pop-up ServiceOntario service centre in Brantford, by repurposing a vacated land registry office, to provide even more convenient services to international agricultural workers, newcomers and others who need to renew or get a new health card; and
  • opened six new ServiceOntario service centres in select Staples Canada stores, with three additional locations opening in 2024, making it easier and more convenient for families and businesses to access vital government services where people live, work and shop
• expanded contact centre support for the Social Assistance Digital Application line to include Toronto Employment and Social Services
• launched contact centre support for the Community Emergency Preparedness Grant ensuring customers receive timely responses to their inquiries by phone and email
• migrated 178 government applications to more modern authentication services allowing for an improved and consistent user experience for OPS, BPS, and public users
• supported consumers through offers of voluntary mediation efforts, assisting in resolving complaints, conducting inspections, and taking appropriate enforcement action. Between January 1 and December 31, 2023, the ministry:
  • received 28,856 consumer complaints, incidents, and inquiries
  • negotiated $755,857 in resolution amounts for consumers
  • saved consumers $53,343 in cancelled/rescinded contracts
  • conducted 145 inspections, focusing on the sectors that posed risks to consumers (based on the call centre’s most frequent interactions) including payday loans, collection agencies, auto repair, moving and storage, home construction, maintenance, and renovations
  • laid 74 charges under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and other enforced legislation; and
  • obtained 44 convictions resulting in $190,000 of fines levied by the courts, $34,994 in restitution, with 84 months probation time, and 10 months of prison time
• delivered more than 1.9 million Consumer Protection Ontario interactions, primarily consisting of information and education communicated online, by phone, mail and in person
• continued to provide integrated services and advice to ministries, agencies, the BPS, and the public to ensure that recordkeeping, access to information, and protection of privacy activities are integrated and effective. This includes coordination and management of inquiries from Members of Provincial Parliament, institutions, and municipalities. In addition, this includes public inquiries on access, privacy, and application of legislation, such as the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1990 and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 1990
• the Cyber Security Centre of Excellence continued to support ministries and BPS service delivery partners improve digital resilience with education, awareness activities, cyber threat knowledge, and intelligence sharing. This includes:
  • support through the Cyber Security Operations Centre, the government’s first line of defense in the protection of information and infrastructure assets of the citizens of Ontario, which supported 11 BPS cyber incident engagements in 2023–24 (as of Feb 11, 2024)
  • conducting multiple training sessions (averaging one every two months), which included a tabletop exercise for senior leadership in Emergency Management Ontario, and the second two-day hybrid BPS Cyber Security conference with over 1,100 registrants; and
  • growing the Cyber Community of Practice to over 1,700 individuals from 600+ organizations (as of Dec 18, 2023) that inform and advise the BPS and ministries on cyber security topics
• continued to manage the second-largest private data network and voice service implementation in Canada (second only to the Canadian Federal Government)
• increased site bandwidth and overall services improvements by transferring several Ontario Land Registry Offices in August 2023 to the OPS’ enterprise network service from a private network vendor. Activities that previously took 15 minutes to complete now take less than 10 seconds (for example, uploading files or viewing a historical record)
• developed the first iteration of an I&IT action plan — a framework for taking a whole-of-government approach to transforming technology-enabled service delivery across the OPS
• Ontario successfully supported Canada’s joining of the Hague Apostille Convention on January 11, 2024, which will make it easier than ever for Ontarians to use their public Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery Page 30 of 144 documents abroad. Under the Convention, Ontarians will have simpler, better, and faster access to document authentication services
• Ontario expanded access for in-person document authentication services to four additional locations across the province (in Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, and Windsor). This expansion helps to ensure that Ontarians have easier access to document authentication services regardless of where they are in the province

Digital Transformation

• helped Ontarians to keep up to date with important renewal deadlines for driver’s licences, licence plates, health cards, and Ontario Photo Cards — this was achieved by enabling customers to receive free, secure, and timely reminders by email, text, and phone 60 and 30 days before it’s time to renew their products and, effective March 26, 2023, sending a final reminder 30 days after expiration if they have not renewed their product
• launched the Licence Plate Expiry Checker so Ontarians can go online and quickly figure out when their licence plate expires. Over 595,000 licence plate expiry checks were performed between July and December 2023, underscoring the inherent value and user-centric appeal of the application
• launched online self-serve temporary driver’s licences for provincial offences act driver’s licence reinstatement transactions. As of January 31, 2024, ServiceOntario has issued 14,745 online temporary driver’s licences
• launched a new Conversational Interactive Voice Response feature which allows Ontarians to “speak freely” with a virtual assistant who can help resolve questions right away so customers get faster, better service with shorter wait times. 884,821 calls have been received to date with Ontarians spending on average 69.28 seconds to get their answer
• expanded Digital Dealership Registration to include new and used passenger vehicles transactions (including transfers related to the sale) online with ServiceOntario. When Digital Dealership Registration launched its Minimum Viable Product in 2022, limited to new vehicle transactions, only 40 dealerships were onboarded. As of February 2024, with over a year since the initial launch, over 14,000 transactions have been completed and more than 500 dealerships registered on Digital Dealership Registration. In 2023, Digital Dealership Registration dealerships reported an average reduction of 3.3 trips per week to ServiceOntario locations and average savings of 3.2 work hours per week
• ServiceOntario is making it quicker and easier for couples to get a marriage licence with a new online portal that enables licence applications to be submitted and processed electronically. Since March 28, 2023, six municipalities were onboarded to the new Marriage Licence Application System, with an additional five added October 22, 2023. To date, about 2,200 online marriage licence applications have been submitted through the new marriage system
• launched the minimum viable product for electronic death registration with support from Ministry of the Solicitor General. To date, about 20 applications have been processed, reducing registration time from six to eight weeks to less than five business days
• launched a modern digital service delivery platform that will enhance the customer experience for those accessing government services, while paving the way for expanded online service offerings. This new, secure way to complete government services online allows Ontarians to create an account to support quicker completion of government services, view a history of completed transactions, get notifications through a secure inbox, and manage government documents all in one place
• the new modern digital service delivery platform was launched to the public on January 29^th and the account feature went live on February 26^th; As of March 18^th:
  • total number of unique accounts created: ~12,000
  • total number of renewal transactions completed (both account +guest): ~60,000
  • total number of address change transactions completed (both account +guest): ~ 46,000
• a total of 54,000 land registry customer requests that were manually distributed will now be filtered into new electronic work queues that were built into the land registry staff application. This project was a major recommendation from the Lean review in partnership with Treasury Board Secretariat
• supported Ministry of the Solicitor General in the launch of digital-only private security and investigative services licences, making it quicker and easier for Ontarians to receive and access their Private Security and Investigative Services licence. A true end to end digital experience
• continued to expand on a digitally focused Recordkeeping, Access and Privacy program through issuance of a new corporate policy, ministry maturity assessments, privacy breach management and supporting guidance
• further embedded Recordkeeping, Access and Privacy into enterprise functions such as I&IT Governance and Risk Management to help ministries assess data and privacy practices consistently within each ministry
• streamlining recordkeeping, access and privacy assessments through program analysis of information and the supporting services
• continued the evolution of the Enterprise Data Stewardship initiative to coordinate data practices across ministries enabling service transformation, user experience improvements, further advancing data-driven decision making, and improved service efficiency
• supported digital transformation across government and facilitated service excellence by further expanding the provision of customized digital learning solutions and related products and services as a business service through the designation of the Central Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery Page 32 of 144 Common Service provider of customized digital learning. More than 230 digital learning products and services were delivered to ministry clients across the OPS in 2023–24
• modernized data centre operations to drive modern, faster, and user-centric services by continuing to invest in cloud technology and support greater cloud adoption in the Ontario Public Service. This includes the migration of ministry and agency solutions from the Kingston Data Centre to a single hosting environment — the Guelph Data Centre — supplemented by cloud. As of Q3 2023–24, 504 out of 1,296 ministry applications (39%) are now hosted in the cloud (+89 since Q1)
• continued to build on the province’s Trustworthy AI Framework and advanced work on the draft Responsible Use of AI Directive
• brought together the AI Expert Working Group to provide advice and recommendations on the development of Ontario’s Trustworthy AI Framework and responsible use of AI within the public service. Maintained Ontario’s Open Data Catalogue, which houses thousands of datasets
• improved network access for several remote and rural OPS locations by increasing internet speed by an immediate 2,200% once new satellite service was implemented in August 2023. Locations that previously had limited and unreliable network access now see reduced downtime and a substantial boost in overall productivity
• introduced a new phone service (soft phones) in July 2023, which allows staff to make and receive calls directly through Microsoft Teams, enabling greater collaboration and flexibility at a lower cost than traditional voice services. As of March 20, 2024, approximately 1,804 users have been registered to the new service

Driving Efficiencies

• worked with the Ministry of Health and community labs to improve the process for Health Card version code checks, making them faster, more convenient, and easier to use. To date, the new procedure has reduced the wait time, eliminated paper, and reduced overall administrative burden for community labs
• reduced phone hardware and service costs by utilizing the ServiceOntario Contact Centre MS Teams Soft Phone, resulting in cost savings of more than $250,000 to the ministry, and the Chatbot function has had over 47,000 conversations with the public, with a self-serve rate of 94.01% of clients being diverted from the contact centre
• launched a new digital Knowledge Management tool as a centralized information hub which helps contact centre staff respond to customer questions more quickly and deliver even better service to Ontarians. This decreased call completion from 65 seconds to 12 seconds, and improved service levels from low 90% to high 90% for the current pilot line of business (Business Information Line)
• transferred the Seniors Appointment Booking line to the ServiceOntario contact centre, which has seen average monthly wait times decrease by 73% (22 to 6 minutes) plus additional efficiencies due to economies of scale
• through the Land Registration Telephone Transformation project, a total of 1,900 land registration calls each month (since February 2023) are now handled through the ServiceOntario Contact Centre. This provides customers with a more responsive and consistent service experience
• through the OPS Network Modernization project, 100% of land registry office staff (~246) were transferred to the OPS network. Staff now experience a significant increase in download speed and a 98% increase in application speeds (i.e., from more than 10 minutes to upload/download to less than 10 seconds)
• through the OPS Network Modernization project, 100% of land registry office staff (~246) were transferred to the OPS network. Staff now experience a significant increase in download speed and a 98% increase in application speeds (i.e., from more than 10 minutes to upload/download to less than 10 seconds)
• increased the adoption of low-cost Electronic Fund Transfers and other digital payment solution, as part of a larger government initiative to reduce administrative costs and encourage businesses to prioritize digitalization. As of Q3 2022–23, 91% of all payments were digital
• updated stock management systems and processes to make them more efficient. This saves time and lets each member of the stock team handle twice as many orders of stock to dealers in the Digital Dealer Registration program. Simple stock orders can be instantly approved, while tracking is self-serve and automated
• continued to deliver several improvements in 2023–24 for the WIN, which had migrated to a more modern, cloud-based infrastructure to provide a stable foundation to enhance WIN capabilities through expanded services in the future. This includes supporting the WIN System Stability project to ensure WIN remains secure, stable, and vendor supported
• as of February 2023, ServiceOntario delivered more than 47.2M interactions (including referrals, information, and transactions) through its network of centres, online, by phone, and mail.

Supporting Businesses

• expanded customer choice through the Ontario Business Registry’s Partner Portal beyond two service providers to include approximately 2500 intermediary organizations servicing over 41,000 businesses as of February 2024. By expanding Partner Portal, a digital service channel for business registry services, there is increased consumer choice and competition in the marketplace. The ministry proactively distributed company keys, which enables access to the Ontario Business Registry to over 130,000 businesses
• supported the government's burden reduction strategy through changes that save businesses time and money. Since 2018, the ministry has saved businesses over $53 million annually and reduced regulatory compliance requirements by 3.4%
• the ministry has effectively responded to eight value-for-money audits performed by the Auditor General of Ontario covering ten administrative authorities overseen by the ministry, with a focus on outcomes related to improved service delivery, strengthening public safety, increasing transparency and accountability, and enhancing consumer protection. This involved working with the administrative authorities to create and report regularly on implementation plans for more than 150 recommendations under the audits as well as assessing and implementing recommendations directed at the ministry related to governance, policy and legislative changes
• enhanced governance at three administrative authorities (Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, Travel Industry Council of Ontario, and One Call) following the issuing of Minister’s Orders to facilitate a more efficient and effective governance model and enable a strong focus on the administrative authorities’ consumer protection and public safety mandates. Minister’s Orders were also issued to the Real Estate Council of Ontario and will be implemented in 2024–25
• on October 23, 2023, the government introduced Bill 142, the Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023, which received Royal Assent on December 6, 2023. This legislation established a new Consumer Protection Act, 2023 and made amendments to the Consumer Reporting Act to better protect consumers in the marketplace, provide consumers with greater access and control over their credit information, and make laws simpler and easier for businesses to follow. Stronger consumer protections and better compliance by businesses will help strengthen confidence in the marketplace while supporting Ontario’s continued economic growth. The new Consumer Protection Act, 2023 requires regulations to be developed and in place before it can be proclaimed into effect. The ministry will begin stakeholder consultations in 2024 on draft regulations required to bring the new Consumer Protection Act into force
• as of October 1, 2023, changes came into effect that gave businesses and corporations governed under eight business law statutes and the Condominium Act, 1998 flexibility to hold virtual or hybrid meetings and facilitate other virtual processes in a way that makes sense to them. These changes were made to achieve the same effect as the temporary measures that were first introduced during the pandemic when large in-person gatherings were prohibited. However, these changes also go further than the temporary framework by clarifying certain requirements on how virtual meetings and processes can be implemented and enacting safeguards related to virtual meetings
• on December 1, 2023, a second phase of changes under Trust in Real Estate Services Act 2020 came into force. Among other things, these changes enhance disclosure requirements and other registrant obligations to better protect consumers of real estate services, improve consumer choice, and update the Real Estate Council of Ontario’s powers and tools
• wine standards under the Vintners Quality Alliance Act, 1999 were updated to reflect current wine making processes
• on November 22, 2023, the ministry introduced Bill 153, the Building Infrastructure Safely Act. This legislation, if passed, would amend the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 to, among other things, enhance Ontario’s locate delivery system while maintaining safety and help to ensure the efficient and sustainable operation of One Call
• a blanket fee exemption from charging the market rates to third party vendors for filming at the Archives of Ontario was established in March 2024. The fee waiver aims to reduce financial burden and provide easier access to the Archives of Ontario for businesses, organizations and artists while encouraging new and innovative ways for them to help profile the Archives of Ontario as the premier source of provincially significant historical information. The fee waiver aligns with the government's priority to reduce administrative burden and costs for Ontarians. The ministry aims to support aligned partnerships, raise the profile of Archives of Ontario’s work, and further government priorities such as promoting collections and awareness on Black History and Indigenous communities in line with Truth and Reconciliation efforts

People and Culture

• Archives of Ontario collaborated with ServiceOntario to:
  • develop a streamlined, one window process to reduce the burden on Indigenous communities, organizations and family members trying to locate death records for children who attended Indian Residential Schools
  • permanently waive fees for death registration searches, death certificates and certified copies of death registrations as part of the process
• archives of Ontario continues to work with Indigenous communities and ministry partners in providing access to records related to the history of Indian Residential School
• the Archives of Ontario built relationships and cultural awareness through sharing and promoting of archival material:
  • Improved visibility of Black history by collaborating with the City of Toronto History Museums, the Canadian Association of Black Journalists and others on a celebration held at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Hall for the 200^th anniversary of Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s birth. The event was broadcast as an episode of CBC’s “Ideas.” Records from the Mary Ann Shadd Cary fonds, preserved by Archives of Ontario, were also added to Canadian Commission of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (CCUNESCO)’s Canada Memory of the World Register
  • collaborated with the Ontario Black History Society on the development of a new online exhibit entitled “Slavery and Abolition in Upper Canada”; and
  • developed a weeklong onsite professional development program for teachers to enhance engagement with and awareness of the Archives of Ontario and its resources
• expanded translator pilot to the full suite of iPads in ServiceOntario service centres so customers can access a translator application. With an instructional video and a tool to collect usage data and feedback, the pilot expansion provides an inclusive experience for customers. The use of iPads with a translation application installed in public service centres is helping more Ontarians access the services they need, including recently when the application was used to translate from English to Arabic to support a customer in Sault Ste. Marie. As of February 2024, ServiceOntario has five different types of devices being tested across both public and private ServiceOntario Centres. The program continues to collect data from users and will be developing a recommendation on device of choice. This will allow ServiceOntario to offer consistent translation services across all In-person centres across the province
• permanently extended three existing temporary orders made under the Vital Statistics Act and Change of Name Act to waive fees for vital events products and services for Indigenous peoples (fee waivers) including waiving fees charged for:
  • change of name for Residential School survivors and their families to reclaim a traditional name, and Indigenous peoples seeking to change their name to single name if it is in accordance with their traditional culture
  • delayed registrations of death for Indigenous children who attended Residential Schools; and
  • death registration searches, death certificates, and certified copies of death registration for Indigenous children who attended Residential Schools
• in addition, the ministry obtained approval to create a permanent fee waiver for uncertified and certified copies of death registrations and archival records for Indigenous communities, organizations, and family members in support of Reconciliation
• continued to modernize the delivery of training for management and staff provided by the ministry, including developing or modernizing 150 digital learning products that support users of the Integrated Financial Information System, in addition to the development of eLearning for ministry staff on other topics, including combating cyber threats and appropriate use of generative AI
• as an important step in the OPS’ commitment to diversity and inclusion, OPS staff can now set their preferred pronouns in their display name. This is a simple but powerful way to show that everyone is respected for who they are and how they want to be addressed
• as of February 2023, ServiceOntario delivered more than 47.2M interactions (including referrals, information, and transactions) through its network of centres, online, by phone, and mail.

Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding.

Key Performance Measures

Ministry results are an aggregation of program area results, some of which are highlighted in the following section:

ServiceOntario

Key ServiceOntario service standards measure the percentage of transactions delivered within established timeframes and the effectiveness of service delivery processes, including seven services with money-back guarantees. ServiceOntario met or exceeded most of its service standards in 2023–24. The table below shows the total number of services with a standard and what percent of those services achieved its target.

Note: Data reported as at Q3 fiscal year 2023–24. Categories listed in this table include multiple lines of business provided by ServiceOntario.

The Information Requests service standard “Requests for Information will be processed and completed within 30 days or authorized extension”, as well as other statistics on Freedom of Information requests, are now published annually by the Information and Privacy Commission of Ontario and are available online in the Annual Report section, under Full Statistics.

ServiceOntario offers seven money-back service guarantees: online birth, marriage, and death certificates; premium online birth, marriage, and death certificates; and online personalized licence plate orders.

ServiceOntario’s money-back service guarantees were met on average, 99.8% of the time between April 2020 and December 2023 (refer to Figure 1). The goal for 2024–25 is to maintain a service standard achievement rate above 99% through strict process controls and continuous improvement.

Figure 1: Service Standard Achievement Rate

*As of October 2021, ServiceOntario is accountable for seven money-back service guarantees.

Note: Data for money-back guarantees reported in Fig. 1 as at Q3 fiscal year 2023–24 (December 2023).