Job Specification

Purpose :

To provide senior level expertise in the coordination and delivery of specialized financial analytics and the development of performance measures that informs on the energy sector and agency performance in Ontario in order to position the ministry/province more effectively in meeting Ontario's current and long term energy needs.
To coordinate and/or conduct economic policy, regression analysis and econometric modelling projects/activities to improve the effectiveness of funding and investment decisions,
To lead the measurement/reporting on agency and sector financial performance against ministry planning targets/benchmarks and address energy related issues.
To work collaboratively across the ministry, with agencies and stakeholders to enhance energy/electricity capacity based on solid financial, statistical and econometric information analyses

Key Responsibilities :

1. Advice and Expertise
- Provides advice, expertise, and briefings to senior management, including the Cabinet, Minister and Deputy Minister, on the financial performance of sector agencies, provincial capital planning and allocation process, including acquisition, management, analysis and application of data on capital investment, capital performance, industry concerns, and developments in other jurisdictions.
- Advises, and provides expertise to ministries and agencies, boards, and commissions on issues, relations, programs, and energy sector initiatives.
- Identifies potential and existing issues and related implications for the policy environment and industry concerns and tracks developments in other jurisdictions.
- Provides expertise and guidance on analytical techniques, systems, measurements and tracking processes, including gaps analysis, risk analysis, cost/benefits analysis and options, environmental scanning, cumulative monitoring and other methods to contribute to and ensure the reliability and validity of analysis. Keeps informed of emerging developments, new technologies and innovative tools to maintain expertise; and assesses suitability for branch use to ensure current and leading edge analytical capabilities.
2. Policy Analysis and Development:
- Leads, coordinates and/or conducts analytical, statistical, regression analysis and econometric modelling projects/activities on different energy projects and investment proposals to demonstrate the impacts of different scenarios in support of long term energy planning and decision making to strengthen the province's electricity system.
- Researches and analyzes ministry policies, programs, and Cabinet submissions, to identify implications, and current and emerging policy issues related to energy planning requiring legislative reform, policy, or program responses.
- Reviews and evaluates new or existing programs of ministries and advises on expenditure of public funding within the amounts appropriated by the Legislature.
- Develops/negotiates agenda items for Cabinet Committees, in-depth reports, presents policy options, proposed decision minutes and recommendations to ministry senior management for decision making purposes, and prepares documentation, e.g., Cabinet submissions, legislative amendments, Minister and Deputy Minister's briefing notes.
- Plans/designs research, develops/recommends project goals and deliverables, conducts qualitative and financial analysis, including program analysis and environmental scans, to support policy and program recommendations on current and emerging issues affecting energy planning/sector e.g., costing of options; analysis of immediate and long term impacts, and best practices.
- Benchmarks the province's energy sector/energy agency performance against other sectors and jurisdictions to determine best strategies, cost effectiveness, innovation, best investment return scenarios, economic impacts, etc. and develops recommendations for suitability/implementation by the province, including all relevant background materials (e.g. models, options, costs, challenges, impact assessments, etc.).

- Identifies and coordinates the development of performance indicators to measure the level of success towards meeting the province's current and long-term electricity needs. Coordinates the on-going evaluation of current energy initiatives, monitoring and evaluation of emerging issues and trends for impact on current projects and planning for further analytical and econometric projects. Formulates and recommends performance measurements and reporting criteria to provide quality assurance and quality control of project activities. Conducts quality assurance/control on project outputs to ensure solid financial, statistical and econometric information analyses.

- Interprets and explains complex economic, statistical and quantitative information impacting provincial energy sector/performance and provides options to address issues/problems.
3. Stakeholder Relations/Partnerships:
- Participates on, and/or leads ministry, cross-ministry or inter-jurisdictional working committees and task forces, and contributes policy subject expertise. Coordinates policy development with policy leads from other sectors to ensure alignment of policy strategic objectives and impact analysis.
- Establishes effective working relationships and linkages with other branches in the ministry, as well as other ministries and electricity agencies with regard to project activities (e.g. data collection, financial/economic impacts and econometric models of various scenarios, etc.).
- Develops networking processes between key stakeholders, and consults and solicits input on proposed policies and programs with stakeholders, other ministries and levels of government, agencies and associations.
- Builds stakeholder relationships, gathers intelligence, obtains data, develops consensus, collaborates on policy development or research, and identifies and resolves concerns and issues.
- Develops outreach programs/initiatives and prepares materials and communications strategies to facilitate the provision of information to stakeholders with respect to the energy sector in Ontario.
- Provides guidance and advice to junior staff on skill sets including the creation of financial models, undertaking research and analysis, as well as the development of briefing products and dissemination information to decision-makers.
4. Program Evaluation and Implementation:
- Contributes to the development of tracking and reporting systems, benchmarks and criteria for the monitoring and evaluation of policy initiatives across sectors, reviews/ assesses the effectiveness of new/changed policies and programs to support further policy development, reports on policy performance, and develops recommendations/changes based on findings.
- Coordinates and /or participates in implementation planning, communications, development, user education, and training, for approved policies.
- Devises and implements methods for the monitoring of ministry's planning targets, including the surveillance of critical energy issues and potential impact to the ongoing maintenance of the Long-Term Energy Plan. Reviews findings and analysis conducted by branch staff and recommends changes to energy and investment strategies, etc.
5. Communications
- Contributes to the development of policy-specific communication plans, and prepares a range of materials (e.g., briefing notes, correspondence, policy papers, presentations, orientation packages) requested by internal and external stakeholders.
- Drafts correspondence to members of the public on contentious and sensitive issues, for signature by Ministry executives and the Minister.

Knowledge / Skill :

Knowledge of and skills in:
- Theories, principles and best practices of accounting, financial analytics and OPS/ministry business planning process, reporting requirements and timelines, to provide senior level expertise to the independent reviews of financial/reporting documents, business plans, and budgets of agencies to assess effectiveness of their financial decisions, validate accurate representation of outcomes, identify financial weaknesses/other issues and assess impacts in support of senior ministry executives' decision making with respect to the province's fiscal plan, the provincial budget and monitoring of the performance of sector agencies on meeting Ontario's energy needs.
- Policy and program development principles and techniques governments capital planning allocation and policy development process, and government decision making processes to lead and/or participate in the development of provincial policies and programs related to energy policy and planning.
- Program analysis/evaluation techniques to contribute to the development of benchmarks and performance criteria to assess the effectiveness of new/changed policies and programs, and to provide recommendations for policy and program change.
- Analytical, assessment and interpretive skills to conduct specialized economic policy research, financial analytics, regression analysis, statistical and econometric modelling with respect to energy and sector financial performance against ministry planning targets and benchmarks
- The broad economic, environmental, legal, and political issues underlying policy development in the sector, including multi-jurisdictional issues and relationships, industry concerns and priorities related to energy planning in Ontario, to develop policy options and strategies.
- Finance, economics and statistics, public administration or a related discipline, as well as microeconomic theory, public finance economics, business administration or a related discipline, in order to: survey, research and develop solutions and options for public policy related to energy.
- The provincial and ministry strategic directions, policy, commitments, legislation and regulation related to the sector, to ensure that ministry and government objectives and directions are considered in the development of policy submissions and to provide information and advice to clients and stakeholders on policy and implications.
- Project management and research techniques to lead portfolio assignments, plan/conduct environment scans, analysis of best practices, qualitative/quantitative research, and analysis of options and impacts.
- Oral and written communications to respond to issues, provide recommendations, prepare reports, Cabinet submissions, briefing materials and correspondence, and to represent the ministry on inter-jurisdictional task forces/working committees mandated to discuss issues and concerns.
- Ability to simplify complex technical and/or policy issues to be easily understood by government employees external to the sector and/or the general public.
- Standard software programs and tools to research and prepare own materials, presentation and analyze data.

Interpersonal / Influencing Skill :

- Consultation and negotiation skills to gain support for ministry policy and program initiatives from other ministries and stakeholders.
- Consensus-building and networking skills to maintain strong relationships with partner branches, other ministries, agencies and stakeholders to develop consensus and support for policy and program initiatives and to ensure that policy and program changes reflect coordinated input from all key players.
- Presentation and persuasion skills to provide policy and/or program advice; to explain policy and/or program recommendations; propose ministry responses/positions on certain contentious issues.
- Facilitation skills, political acuity and diplomacy to communicate the Ministry policy/position on sensitive, political issues to working committees, other governments, and internal/external stakeholders.
- Tact and empathy when conversing with the public, to address concerns regarding problems they have experienced and to develop policies/solutions that integrate their concerns.

Analyzing / Problem Solving Skill :

Analytical and problem-solving skills to:
- Plan/carry out research studies, undertake environmental scans, analyze fiscal arrangements and best practices in other jurisdictions, to identify policy gaps and issues, and to make recommendations.
- Assess both qualitative and quantitative information to develop proposals, evaluate the implications and impact of proposed policy changes, and modify/make changes to mitigate identified potential risks.
- Evaluate the implications and impacts of proposed policy changes, and modify changes to mitigate identified potential risks.
- Review and analyze technical reports and legal documents to determine the impact on energy planning; review other ministry policy programs and Cabinet Submissions to identify implications.
- Process and distill information from a range of sources, including research and scientific data, trends analyses, and independent research, to identify issues and discern salient points.

Decision Making / Responsibility :

Responsible for:
- Strategic policy advice/expertise, analysis and recommendation to senior management, including the Minister and Deputy Minister on financial policy and planning in Ontario.
- Policy advice to ministries and agencies, boards, and commissions, on energy sector issues, relations, programs, policy projects and initiatives.
- Project leadership and policy expertise in the analysis and development of policies and strategies and the implementation of initiatives related to provincial energy planning.
- Identifying where a policy response related to energy planning in Ontario may be required.
- Serving as a primary liaison with internal/external stakeholders and associations with respect to energy planning in Ontario.
- Reviewing policy or program initiatives of other ministries/agencies and jurisdictions to identify and comment on their impact on the energy planning/ sectors in Ontario.
Has latitude to identify and advise on existing and potential strategic energy planning issues, and to recommend changes in policies, programs and legislation. Determines research and analytical techniques, the extent of stakeholder consultation required during research and policy development, and the effective use of project resources.
Decisions are guided by provincial and ministry strategic directions, policy and regulatory framework pertaining to energy planning in the province, the existing legislative/regulatory and policy framework, and government directives and procedures.

Contacts / Stakeholder :

- Ministry senior management, Deputy Ministers, Chair of Management Board, Cabinet Office, Cabinet Committees, to provide information/advice, respond to issues, submit recommendations for approval of policies and programs.
- Senior policy counterparts in own and other ministries, and in agencies, boards and commissions, regulators, market operators to consult on program and policy development, collaborate on issues resolution, obtain/exchange capital data information, develop Cabinet submissions or joint recommendations, and develop recommendations for policies/program.
- Counterparts in other jurisdictions to collaborate and share information on inter-jurisdictional programs and ongoing negotiations.
- Stakeholders/broader energy sector partners (municipalities, local utilities, private sector energy generators, transmitters, and distributors) to, share information, conduct research and to address the concerns/issues of such groups in policy documents/reports/ communications.

Guidance / Supervision :

- Provides information, mentoring and guidance to other policy analysts and junior staff when leading/coordinating research and policy development projects.
- Provides advice and information on current and proposed policy and programs to other government policy counterparts.
- Provides advice and information on policy recommendations and analyses to senior management, legal counsel and other government decision-makers.

Demands / Pressures :

Work Demands :

- Frequently required to respond to requests within short deadlines where time pressures result in the need to work beyond normal work hours for response to information requests.
- Frequently required to deal with deadlines which are subject to change without notice, priorities that are not anticipated or contentious issues which arise unexpectedly and require quick turnaround for issues management.

Mental / Sensory :

- Frequent requirement to concentrate when reading materials, analyzing fiscal documents and research, and when drafting reports, briefing notes and policy related materials.
- Frequent requirement to listen intently when attending meetings, seeking input from stakeholders.

Conditions / Environment :

Work is performed in a typical office environment.