Section 5: Strategic Directions and Implementation Plan
The AGCO’s Strategic Plan outlines the vision and strategic goals for the organization. The AGCO’s vision of being a world-class regulator that is innovative, proactive, inclusive, and socially responsible will be achieved through its three strategic goals – Modern Regulator, Service Excellence, and People First. Each strategic goal is associated with several key commitments, as outlined below.
The AGCO five-year Strategic Plan was introduced in 2019 and a new Strategic Plan will be implemented in 2024. Last year, AGCO management reviewed the organizational key commitments to help guide our work through the conclusion of the current five-year Strategic Plan.
Within the Strategic Plan framework the AGCO’s annual Corporate Plan captures the AGCO’s major initiatives and supports its expanded mandate by ensuring that initiatives are prioritized based on alignment with its mandate and resource capacity. The annual Corporate Plan also addresses the government’s priorities, including those identified in the Attorney General’s mandate letter. The AGCO’s focus for the coming years is continuous improvement with a digital lens, business optimization, and strengthening its financial framework. The Corporate Plan is reviewed by the AGCO’s leadership team on an annual basis to ensure priorities remain accurate and resourced effectively.
2023–24 Corporate Plan
The AGCO anticipates that the 2023-24 Corporate Plan will incorporate the following priorities. The AGCO continues to develop its final Corporate Plan for Board approval in March 2023.
Supporting businesses through ongoing modernization initiatives remain a focus for the AGCO.
Gaming Modernization will leverage models that were implemented as part of Ontario’s new igaming regulatory framework to develop an improved regulatory framework for casino gaming. Gaming Modernization will also help to responsibly oversee and facilitate the OLG’s introduction of self-serve lottery terminals across the province.
Other work underway to support our regulated businesses include a joint project with the Ontario Cannabis Store to allow of the automation and standardization of monthly regulatory reporting, eliminating the need for retailers to manually submit monthly Excel-based reports, and greater sophistication in data and analytics in order to make more effective decisions to target regulatory inspections and audits.
The AGCO will continue to support the regulatory model for igaming through the registration process for operators and suppliers interested in participating in Ontario’s regulated igaming market. In addition, the AGCO will monitor and enforce compliance within the new open competitive igaming market, ensuring player protection, reinforcing responsible gaming measures, and supporting appropriate controls to minimize illegal activity and money laundering.
Liquor Modernization remains a key priority. The AGCO will continue to work closely with government in support of continued modernization efforts to support the liquor industry. In addition, the AGCO’s focus will remain on facilitating better monitoring and compliance in the sector. The AGCO will continue to adopt industry best practices to enhance social responsibility measures and protect the public interest.
The regulations required to modernize the new liquor framework under the Liquor Licence and Control Act, 2019 (LLCA) came into effect in Fall 2021. The LLCA enables the AGCO to modernize the way it oversees the sale, service and delivery of liquor and allows for a more flexible regulatory approach.
The Registrar’s Interim Standards and Requirements for Liquor (Interim Standards) came into effect under the LLCA and primarily maintain and consolidate many of the previous requirements. Over the coming years, the AGCO will build on this work to develop a comprehensive outcomes-based regulatory model, consistent with our overall strategic approach for other regulated sectors.
Building on previous years’ work in response to the Auditor General’s 2020 Value for Money Report, the AGCO is undertaking a Financial Framework Review with MAG in order to respond to the government’s commitment to program sustainability. This will include consideration of matters including licensing fees and regulatory recovery approaches across our four sectors through a cost recovery lens. In response to the 2020 Value for Money Audit Report, the AGCO submitted the follow-up update requested by the Auditor General in 2022. The AGCO has implemented improvements to compliance and inspections activities, regulatory processes and public transparency. The two-year follow-up report from the Auditor General was released in December 2022. The AGCO is reviewing the two-year follow-up report and continue to implement the agency-wide action plan. The AGCO will continue to provide updates for the remaining recommendations for the Auditor General’s continuous follow-up in 2023. The AGCO will also continue reporting, including financial, to the relevant oversight bodies.
The AGCO provided a submission to the expert panel reviewing the federal Cannabis Act on matters including red tape with respect to bifurcated requirements for the advertising, promotion, and display of cannabis, which has created confusion among licensees and challenges for the AGCO. We will continue to engage with provincial partners including the Ontario Cannabis Store to respond to the evolving nature of Ontario’s cannabis market.
For the fiscal year 2023-2024, the AGCO will continue to focus on embedding Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DI&A) in all aspects of its work. To help achieve our DI&A vision of building a culture of inclusion as an employer, and as a service provider, we continue to implement our multiyear DI&A strategy, which includes recommendations from an external vendor (KPMG), following their review and assessment of our organization.
The strategy builds on our DI&A goals of having a workforce reflective of Ontario's demographic diversity, building an inclusive workplace culture free of discrimination and harassment, and delivering services in an accessible, culturally aware, relevant, and responsive way. Some of the work we have already implemented includes:
- Requiring all employees to have a DI&A related goal included in their 2022-23 learning plan.
- Introducing an employee census to collect diversity demographics and to establish a benchmark of our workforce.
- Applying and embedding a DI&A lens in our recruitment process to increase fairness and inclusivity in our hiring practices.
- Providing all employees with a resource document that outlines when a DI&A lens could be applied in various workplace scenarios so staff can embed cultural awareness and inclusion in an accessible, relevant, sustainable, and responsive way.
- Providing staff with access to unique monthly learning sessions related to DI&A to help with personal and professional growth, as well as help achieve inclusion and equity in our workplace.
Our future work includes a continuation of integrating DI&A programs and measurable actions, facilitating the AGCO’s progression in the DI&A maturity continuum, and making meaningful partnerships with employee groups that enhance recruitment outreach, which is reflective of Ontario’s diversity.
Outlook to 2024–25 and 2025–26 Corporate Plan
The AGCO anticipates that out-year annual Corporate Plans will incorporate the following priorities:
- Continuing to support the government’s efforts to provide more convenience and choice to consumers with respect to alcohol sales, while maintaining our strong commitment to the safe and responsible sale, service, delivery, and consumption of alcohol
- Implementation of measures related to the review of the AGCO’s cost recovery framework, which will be balanced and include extensive consultation with our stakeholders
- Continued implementation of the multi-year DI&A workplan (additional information in Section 6)
- Implementation of the multi-year Digital Strategy (additional information in Section 7), including cybersecurity and modernizing AGCO legacy systems
Implementation Plan
The AGCO’s annual corporate planning process aligns the agency’s major initiatives to the three strategic goals across all levels of the organization. This planning process tracks and reports on the progress of ongoing initiatives annually while also informing the consideration of new initiatives.
The AGCO’s Corporate Plan captures direction from the Minister’s mandate letter, major initiatives from across the organization, including key commitments and deliverables. The status of Corporate Plan initiatives are updated quarterly and regularly reported to the AGCO Board.