November 4, 2014

John Fraser, MPP
Ottawa South
Parliamentary Assistant,
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
11th Floor, Hepburn Block
80 Grosvenor Street
Toronto ON  M7A 2C4

Dear Mr. Fraser:

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 Health and Long-Term Care 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 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 government is dedicated to providing patients with quality care at every stage of their lives and in every setting. Key elements in achieving this goal are improving access to end-of-life care in Ontario, and looking at ways to make the best use of the skills and capacity of our health human resources.

As Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, your specific responsibilities include:

  • Supporting the development of a comprehensive strategy on palliative and end-of-life care that ensures all patients across the sector have access to end-of-life and palliative care. To achieve this, you will strengthen palliative and end-of-life care in the home and community sector so that patients may receive the care they need at home or in their communities.
  • Working with the minister to oversee the expansion of hospice care to include 20 new hospices across Ontario. This will almost double the number of beds for quality end-of-life care and will provide palliative patients the opportunity to spend their final days in a home-like setting.
  • Supporting work at the national level to engage the dialogue on dying with dignity in Canada.
  • Leading work that will help the minister ensure that nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals can make their full contribution to the health care system. This work could include expanding scopes of practice for some providers, and identifying new models for collaborative care.

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.

Yours sincerely,

Eric Hoskins signature

Dr. Eric Hoskins
Minister