Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:19

Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Laurie Turner, a

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:23

partner at Fasken and together with Lynne Golding, serve as the chair of Fasken Health

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:28

Law Group. Together with me today, I have our new counsel, Christine Elliott. So as most

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:35

of you know, Christine served as the provincial minister of health, commencing in

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:40

2018 and serving in that role until earlier this year. We thank Christine for the central

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:46

role that she played in the effort to protect our collective health during the pandemic in

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:50

that capacity.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:51

And welcome her again to Fasken. So Christine started her role with Fasken earlier this

Laurie Turner:

: 00:00:57

month and previous to joining Fasken and while serving as the Minister of Health of

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:03

the province. Christine also served as deputy premier of the province from 2018 to 2022.

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: 00:01:10

She was first elected to the provincial legislature in 2006 and returned in 2007,

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:16

2011, 2014 and 2018.

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: 00:01:21

Christine also served as Ontario's first patient ombudsman from 2016 to 2018.

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: 00:01:30

As many of you are also likely aware, Christine is a lawyer by trade. She

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:34

graduated from the University of Western Ontario Law School and practiced for several

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:39

years before entering public service. In her new role at the firm, Christine's focus will

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:45

be on supporting clients in the health care, life sciences and technology sectors. So

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:51

thanks so much for being here with us today, Christine. Maybe I'll just without further

Laurie Turner:

: 00:01:56

ado, launch into the first question I have for you.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:01:59

Sure.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:02:00

Well, our viewers are undoubtedly aware of your work in the political space. Can you

Laurie Turner:

: 00:02:04

share with us what your work will look like and the support that you're going to offer

Laurie Turner:

: 00:02:08

clients in your new role at the firm?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:11

Well, first, let me just say that I'm really very happy to have joined the team. It's a

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:15

wonderful firm with excellent lawyers, and I really look forward to doing whatever I can

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: 00:02:21

to support existing clients and also help to bring in some new clients.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:27

I have had a unique perspective, I guess one could say, in the work that I did in health.

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And I do know how government views some new propositions that come forward to them, the

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:42

things that they concentrate on. I can offer some suggestions on things that clients

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: 00:02:48

might want to emphasize if they're approaching government and maybe some things

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:52

that are not as important.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:02:55

But I also know what government needs to do and what government is looking for the

Christine Elliot:

: 00:03:02

supports that they need. And I know that there are many clients that are able to

Christine Elliot:

: 00:03:08

provide goods, services, ideas, whatever it might be.

Christine Elliot:

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And so I look forward to working with you and with Lynne and the rest of the team

Christine Elliot:

: 00:03:18

to bring those ideas forward, to allow clients to be successful, but also to make

Christine Elliot:

: 00:03:25

sure that the people of Ontario benefit as well when government takes those ideas out.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:03:29

Great. Thank you so much. And with our student recruitment process coming up in the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:03:35

next few weeks, one of the most common questions that we get as lawyers from the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:03:40

students we interview is why we chose Fasken as the place to practice. Are you able to

Laurie Turner:

: 00:03:45

tell me a little bit about why you selected a law firm generally and then Fasken in

Laurie Turner:

: 00:03:51

particular to kick off the next stage of your career?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:03:55

Well, I would say generally, having been a lawyer for more years than I really care to

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:00

remember, it seems almost like coming home to me because I did start as a practicing

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:06

lawyer and it seems sort of a natural way for me to to move forward in the next phase

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: 00:04:14

of my career. But as far as Fasken is concerned, I do know that the firm has an

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:20

excellent reputation. It has very, very talented lawyers and with a large health law

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:27

practice, which is something that I did develop some expertise in over the last four

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:32

years in particular. And so it seems like a very, very good fit for me.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:04:38

Great. Thanks so much. Christine, You've had such an interesting and successful career so

Laurie Turner:

: 00:04:43

far. Can you share with us a bit about your career trajectory?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:48

Sure. It's well, I guess some people would say I can't hold a job because I've done

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:53

almost everything that is possible as a lawyer and as a politician.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:04:59

But I did start out as as a practicing lawyer.

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: 00:05:03

I then moved and worked for the the ombudsman of Ontario for several years, and then I

Christine Elliot:

: 00:05:10

worked as a bank auditor for about four years.

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: 00:05:14

And it wasn't.

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: 00:05:16

I then returned to practicing law, but it wasn't really until after my late

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: 00:05:22

husband, who had been the provincial member for Whitby-oshawa, decided to run federally,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:05:29

that there was an opening provincially. And I didn't think it would be good for our

Christine Elliot:

: 00:05:35

marriage if I decided to take him on and challenge him for the nomination as a

Christine Elliot:

: 00:05:40

provincial member. So I decided that I would try and be elected because of my volunteer

Christine Elliot:

: 00:05:49

work more than anything else. I had the opportunity for a number of years to work as

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: 00:05:55

a volunteer on our local community mental health organization's board.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:06:01

I also served as a representative on our Children's Treatment Centre board and helped

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: 00:06:08

raise some money for the local hospital foundation, but I also had the opportunity

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: 00:06:13

to work a lot with differently abled people, which led to my involvement with the

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: 00:06:19

Abilities Centre in Whitby. And it was really because of my passion for all of those

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: 00:06:24

things and seeing some of the gaps in wanting to be helpful in addressing some of those

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: 00:06:29

gaps and make the system better for the people that use it. That got me into

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: 00:06:33

provincial politics and and I've always had health as a focus ever since. I'm not a

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: 00:06:41

health practitioner, of course, but it has been an area that has really interested me

Christine Elliot:

: 00:06:46

and of course challenged me significantly over the last four years in particular.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:06:51

Great. Now we all bring to the table our unique experiences and insights. We've

Laurie Turner:

: 00:06:57

talked about your political career and the various roles that you've held. Can you tell

Laurie Turner:

: 00:07:01

us how you think those experiences and insights are going to be of assistance to you

Laurie Turner:

: 00:07:06

in your new role here at the firm and also to our clients?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:10

Well, yes, I think that there were two major things that I was involved with in

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:19

Health. One was the transformation of our health care system from one that was reliant

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:26

on the 14 health integration networks and the and the movement into Ontario Health with

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:32

local Ontario health teams and combining both physical health and mental health. That was

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:38

something that we were undertaking before the COVID pandemic hit.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:44

And then with COVID, of course, you had to learn to move very quickly and address

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:49

problems, challenges and and find solutions, which meant that you had to really work as a

Christine Elliot:

: 00:07:56

team very quickly to analyze a situation, understand exactly what the problem was,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:03

devise solutions, recognizing that in many cases, when you find a solution in one area,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:08

it can cause problems or challenges in other areas. But anticipating that and being ready

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:15

to deal with that. It was also really important to move very quickly too, so I

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:20

believe that I have that as a background that I'm able to analyze situations.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:28

I love working with other team players and working with clients, so I think that all of

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:35

those experiences and the work that I did in the past four years, having to move

Christine Elliot:

: 00:08:42

quickly and decisively will hopefully be of advantage to Fasken clients in the future.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:08:49

Great. Thanks so much. So given your significant knowledge of the health care

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: 00:08:53

space, what do you see as first, some significant issues that might be facing the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:08:58

sector at this time? And then also, on a more positive note, perhaps, what are some areas

Laurie Turner:

: 00:09:04

of opportunity, again, that you see for the health care sector at this time?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:09

Well, I think some of the challenges we've seen pretty clearly in the last short while,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:15

one is that there's a serious issue with health, human resources.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:21

That's not something that money can change because it takes time for a qualified

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:28

health person to be to be trained. So I think that's definitely a challenge. But I think

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:35

that there are organizations out there that can be helpful that we would love to work

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:41

with to be able to bring some solutions to government to help with that. I think that

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:46

there's also a challenge in long term care as well in terms of having people be in the

Christine Elliot:

: 00:09:54

right place at the right time to get the care that they need. And the government is

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: 00:09:59

building more spaces, but they of course have to be the right spaces and the ones best

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: 00:10:04

suited for people's needs. And again, there are many Fasken clients that know how to do

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:11

this and are in a position to bring forward some solutions to government as well. But I

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:18

think there are lots of opportunities in many areas. One is in the area of technology

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:24

having a connected system of care for people, which means in many cases that you have to

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:30

use technology to connect not just the frontline professional who's doing the

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:38

family doctor, but people often have other professionals working with them, be it

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:44

specialists, dietitians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, so many others. So I think

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:50

there's a lot of opportunity in that technology space. But also there are some

Christine Elliot:

: 00:10:55

wonderful innovations that are coming forward. And I think that after the COVID

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:00

experience where we started doing things differently because we had to, now we can do

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:06

things because we want to, that we can see that it can result in better patient focused

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:13

care. And so I think some of the old ways of doing things we don't have to rely on

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:19

anymore. So I'm very excited about it. I think it's a great time for people who have

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:27

these great ideas that I want to offer whatever expertise I can to them as Fasken

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:34

clients so that they can bring those ideas forward for the benefit of the people of

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:39

Ontario to help truly create a patient centered system of care. And I think that's

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:45

something that we all want. And there's many opportunities for many people and many

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: 00:11:50

organizations to be part of it. And I hope to help them to be able to bring that forward

Christine Elliot:

: 00:11:56

as part of the Fasken team.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:11:59

Great.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:00

So you've been with the firm for a few weeks now. Are there any surprises or lessons that

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:06

you've learned already that you want to tell us about?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:09

I would say all good surprises. Everyone has been extremely warm and welcoming. It's a

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:15

fabulous team.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:17

I think from my own perspective, though, I really need to work very hard on learning

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:22

all of the systems so that I can use them all very capably. But I am being trained by some

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:30

great people. But Fasken is just a wonderful place to work and and I'm so grateful to be

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:36

here.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:37

Great.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:38

So we've heard about you, the lawyer and you, the politician. Can you tell us more about

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:43

Christine Elliott? Outside of work, what are your main areas of focus? Outside of the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:12:48

work hours?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:51

Oh, well, I would say primarily my family.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:12:55

I have three sons who are triplets and one's getting married next month.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:02

So I've been rather busy with wedding arrangements lately. But I would say,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:07

generally speaking, I whatever spare time I have, I'm trying to work on fitness. I

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:14

think all of those Zoom calls I had over several years as Minister of Health caught

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:20

up with me a little bit. So I'm trying to deal with that. And and I'm also now taking

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:28

bridge lessons because I'm trying to be mentally as well as physically fit. So that

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:33

takes up most of my private time.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:13:36

Great. And you spoke earlier a little bit about your work with not for profit

Laurie Turner:

: 00:13:40

organizations. Is that still something that you continue to be involved with?

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:44

Yes. For the period of time that I was minister of health, I was not able to

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:50

participate as a volunteer on any of those organizations. But there are a number that

Christine Elliot:

: 00:13:56

are still of great interest to me, working with differently abled children and adults,

Christine Elliot:

: 00:14:03

working with people that have mental health and substance abuse channels, challenges.

Christine Elliot:

: 00:14:08

Sorry, all of those are still really important to me and I hope to become

Christine Elliot:

: 00:14:13

re-engaged now that I'm no longer part of government. But that's what got me into

Christine Elliot:

: 00:14:19

politics in the first place, and that's something that I hope to return to.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:24

Great. Thanks so much, Christine. Thanks for joining us today and giving us the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:27

opportunity to hear more about your past career and your future ambitions at the

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:33

firm. We look forward to you joining us in future webinars and events at the firm. So

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:40

for those of you who wanted to reach out to Christine, you can, of course, find her on

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:45

the Fasken website.

Laurie Turner:

: 00:14:46

So thanks again to everyone for joining us and we hope to see you all soon. Thanks very