June 2, 2020

The Honourable Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Transmitted Via Email: [email protected] [email protected]

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, We are reaching out for assistance on the recently announced Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program of the Federal Government that includes charitable organizations. All 6 Foundations that raise millions of dollars each year in support of the largest health authority in Newfoundland and Labrador, Eastern Health: the Janeway Children’s Hospital Foundation, Health Care Foundation, Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation, Trinity Conception Placentia Health Care Foundation, Discovery Health Care Foundation and the Burin Peninsula Health Foundation are federally registered charities with the Canada Revenue Agency and would qualify for assistance under this program. We have a challenge with accessing the Wage Subsidy program as announced. Currently, the payroll for the employees of all of our Foundations is processed by Eastern Health – who then invoice each Foundation monthly for these costs. Therefore, our payroll remittances to the Federal Government (although paid by our organization through Eastern Health) is not submitted by our organizations – none of our Foundations have our own Canada Revenue Agency Payroll Account. So the Canada Revenue Agency has advised us that we can not access this Wage Subsidy program as announced. We have reached out to our Member of Parliament, Seamus O’Regan, but his office has indicated they are unable to provide assistance to resolve this red tape technicality. During these uncertain times in the Charitable sector it is crucial that we be able to access this important subsidy program to retain our employees and our programs in support of health care. We hope that you will be able to resolve this access issue on our behalf. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Lynette Hillier, Executive Director of the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation who can coordinate communication for all the Foundations at 709.631.9925. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Martin Sullivan, Chairman Lynn Sparkes, President and CEO Janeway Children’s Hospital Foundation Janeway Children’s Hospital Foundation CEO, Ocean Choice International

Jocelyn Perry, Chair Health Care Foundation Paul Snow, President and CEO Executive Vice President and CFO, Fortis Inc. Health Care Foundation

Gary Smith, Chairman Lynette Hillier, Executive Director Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation Executive Vice President, Fortis Inc.

Kevin Parsons, Chairman Leona Piercey, Chief Development Officer Discovery Health Care Foundation Discovery Health Care Foundation

Jerry Pike, Chairman Vanessa Jackman, Executive Director Burin Peninsula Health Foundation Burin Peninsula Health Foundation

Helen Clarke, Chair Don Coombs, Chief Development Officer Trinity Conception Health Foundation Trinity Conception Health Foundation

c.c. Seamus O’Regan, Member of Parliament for St. John's South - Mount Pearl Ken McDonald, Member of Parliament for Avalon , Member of Parliament for Bonavista—Burin—Trinity , Member of Parliament for Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame , Minister of Finance , Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance Senator Senator Norman Doyle Senator Senator Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia Senator David Wells Senator The Honourable , Leader of the Official Opposition