Chapter 1

An Organizational Story

1.3.4.4 Other partnerships

In March 2012, the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding to expedite the process for resolving complaints regarding property tax allocation and other property assessment problems. The Corporation has since made improvements in the form that it sends to homeowners to make it easier for them to register their school support election. It also fulfilled its commitment to respond to complaints the Commissioner’s Office received in its regard, within a maximum of five business days. The Commissioner is delighted that this agreement has led to greater cooperation between his team and the Corporation’s team to provide better support to the Francophone community.

In the same vein, on September 6, 2011, the Commissioner signed a memorandum of understanding with Elections Ontario which also helped expedite the complaints resolution process. The Commissioner was able to determine that with its 940 advance polls and 24,479 regular polls, Elections Ontario has a formidable challenge in finding enough bilingual deputy returning officers in preparation for Election Day. By virtue of this agreement, the Commissioner was able to be part of the solution by urging Francophones to become one of the 80,062 electoral workers needed for a general election.

In the Commissioner’s view, these agreements have helped the parties to better understand their respective challenges and to work together to find long-term solutions that will prevent complaints, for the benefit of the Francophone community. The Commissioner encourages institutions such as municipalities, government agencies and designated organizations to consider the option of forming such partnerships and to contact him if they wish to discuss the contents of any potential agreement.