2016 Parliamentary Assistant Mandate Letter: Housing and Women’s Issues

December 30, 2016

Ms. Nathalie Des Rosiers
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Housing
23^rd Floor, 777 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2E5

Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues
11^th Floor, 77 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1A4

Dear Ms. Des Rosiers:

We are honoured to have you as our parliamentary assistant, and thank you for the valuable support that you will provide us in this crucial role. We welcome you to the Ministry of Housing and Ontario Women’s Directorate, and look forward to working closely with you to ensure that ministry, directorate and overall government objectives are achieved.

At this mid-point of our mandate — and after having achieved two years of real and tangible progress — we are redoubling our efforts to deliver on our top priority — economic growth and good jobs. Our balanced plan to build Ontario up for everyone will deliver real benefits and more inclusive growth that will help people in their everyday lives. We will do this by continuing to invest in better infrastructure, more affordable and accessible postsecondary education, a competitive, low-carbon economy and improved retirement security.

Responsible fiscal management remains an overarching priority for our government, and, thanks to our disciplined approach, we are on track to balance the budget next year, in 2017-18.

The mandate letters we received in September from Premier Wynne set out our specific priorities as ministers for the coming two years. Parliamentary assistants play a key role in meeting these priorities and in helping put our government’s plan into action.

Together, with the Minister of Housing, we will continue to transform Ontario’s housing system into one that is people-centred, partnership-based, responsive to local needs and fiscally responsible, and we will continue to engage with the federal government to promote Ontario’s housing interests.

Our work, as well, will play a key role in promoting gender equality across Ontario by focusing on protecting women from violence, supporting women’s economic empowerment and ensuring more women have the opportunity to reach leadership positions. Together, we will work to ensure every woman and girl can participate as a full member of society, exercise her rights and enjoy her fundamental freedoms.

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

• Overseeing the development of a modernized framework for social housing aligned with the government’s focus on poverty reduction.
• Supporting the development of a framework for a portable housing benefit to give people more flexibility and choice and help conduct a pilot program to test an alternative means of meeting the needs of survivors of domestic violence.
• Continuing the development of legislative amendments to encourage small landlords to provide rental housing while ensuring tenants have appropriate protections.

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

• Leveraging your legal and social justice experience to work with the Violence Against Women Roundtable, legal community and other key stakeholders to assist the government in moving toward the development of a gender-based violence strategy.
• Working with women’s groups, service providers, community leaders and other experts across Ontario to support the development of a government-wide approach to the economic empowerment of women that addresses the needs of women at all economic levels.

A tremendous opportunity lies before us — to ensure that our mandates are fully and effectively implemented, to continue to build Ontario up and to deliver real benefits to all Ontarians.

Sincerely,

Original signed by