Sue Corke has demonstrated a passion for public service and a commitment to continuous service improvement. Her leadership and vision has put the needs of the customers first and this has led to a wide variety of new and innovative services and programs.
Sue Corke was instrumental in the introduction of the City of Toronto’s 311 service which provides easy access to City Services, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. She oversaw the development of BizPaL making it easier to start and run a business at the City. She led a Tri-level Joint Services project to coordinate integrated service delivery with Service Canada, ServiceOntario and the City of Toronto resulting in joint service counters to support eService and eBusiness strategies. Sue led a team in the implementation of Canada’ first fully integrated on-line application system for social assistance and was responsible for the development of innovative recruitment initiatives in the City of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. Her understanding, commitment and passion for the importance of economic development led to the creation of a Toronto Office of Partnerships and the establishment of a premiere cultural event, “Nuit Blanche”.
Sue was also a champion of customer service while at the Province of Ontario. She began as a housing policy analyst in the early 1980’s. She broadened her scope of policy and service delivery responsibilities throughout her time at the Province culminating in her leadership role as Deputy Minister of Consumer and Business Services. She established the Housing Advocacy Task Force that provided land use mediation services resulting in moving thousands of affordable housing units through the land use approval system across Ontario. She worked with the Companies Branch and Ontario Business Connects initiative to launch an online business registration system. Working with staff in the Office of the Registrar General, a new, automated system for processing birth certificates was developed. This system allowed the public to “self-serve” once they had been properly authenticated. As Deputy Minister of Consumer and Business Services, she championed the work of the Integrated Services Division successfully establishing a number of “one window” service delivery channels, including counters, phone, kiosks and the web.
Sue Corke truly exemplifies the high expectations embodied in the Heintzman Leadership Award. As a result of her leadership, the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario have substantially transformed their approach to public sector service delivery.
