2022–23: Year in Review
Government initiatives, priorities and mandate letter
As a provincial government agency, the AGCO supports and delivers on the Ontario government’s public policy priorities and fiscal objectives. The AGCO continues to ensure its priorities and operations align with government direction and ensure cost-effective, customer-focused service delivery. Government priorities are embedded in our approach, as evidenced in our work on igaming, liquor modernization and the Auditor General of Ontario Report, which stem directly from the Attorney General’s direction in our mandate letter for the 2022–23 fiscal year.
Competitiveness, sustainability and expenditure management
The AGCO has initiated a funding framework review with the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) to mitigate its ongoing structural deficit and respond to the government’s commitment to program sustainability, and in response to the Auditor General’s recommendations for the AGCO to become a more financially self-sufficient regulatory agency.
This review will identify opportunities to bring greater consistency in legal authorities and processes to recover costs across the sectors AGCO regulates. It will also create stronger alignment between fee revenue and AGCO recoveries by sector with the aim of reducing the AGCO’s annual net allocation from government to the greatest extent possible. Changes to the existing AGCO funding framework will require the support of government and may require legislative changes. The review findings and recommendations will be made in 2023-24.
In 2022-23, the AGCO made the decision to transition away from its regional offices, which are located across the province, as these respective leases were naturally expiring. The move follows a review in 2020 that looked at how AGCO regional offices are used by staff. It also supports the agency’s hybrid work model and customer service model while still maintaining high-quality services. As of March 31, 2023, the AGCO has closed all regional offices, except for its London, Ontario location. Upon government recommendation, the lease for the London office has been extended for an additional two years to assist staff in the area per MAG and Infrastructure Ontario’s recommendation, which coincides with the Interim Realty Measures put in place by the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Transparency and accountability
For fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, the AGCO Chair, CEO and Chief Administrative Officer have attested to government that the AGCO is in substantial compliance with all applicable legislation, regulations, directives, and policies, has maintained an effective system of internal controls; and has established and maintained a system of internal controls that supports the integrity and reliability of the Agency’s financial reports for the year ended March 31, 2023.
Auditor General of Ontario: 2020 AGCO Value for Money Audit Report
In December 2020, the Auditor General of Ontario released a Value for Money (VFM) Audit Report of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The report contained 26 recommendations and proposed 62 action items, along with management responses from the AGCO and the Ministry of the Attorney General. Fifty-six out of the 62 action items were assigned to the AGCO for response.
The AGCO established a dedicated VFM Audit Action Plan Project Team overseeing working groups to address each recommendation and related action items. Throughout 2021, the AGCO provided quarterly updates to Ontario Internal Audit. The AGCO also provided an update outlining the completed and outstanding undertakings for each recommendation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in April 2021.
In 2022-23, the Auditor General completed a two-year follow-up review to assess the AGCO’s progress on each of the recommendation actions. The final report was published in December 2022 and reported that the AGCO fully implemented 25 (40%) of the recommended action items and that 13 (21%) action items were in the process of being implemented.
As a result of the recommendations, the AGCO has improved and strengthened regulatory processes within its operations and introduced new functionality into iAGCO, its online service delivery platform. Recommendations have been implemented through robust government partnerships that support the AGCO’s regulatory mandates.
In March 2023, the Auditor General initiated its continuous follow-up process for the outstanding recommendations. The AGCO remains committed to its action plan and recognizes the value of the Auditor General of Ontario’s recommendations to enhance its effectiveness as a modern regulator. This remains a corporate priority for fiscal year 2023–24.
Risk management
The AGCO uses an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework to assist the organization in identifying areas of risk and responding in a disciplined and integrated way.
ERM is a continuous, proactive and systematic process to understand, manage and communicate risk from an organization-wide perspective and assists management in making strategic decisions that contribute to the achievement of the AGCO’s corporate objectives.
The goal of the ERM framework is to embed risk management within all operations and across all levels of staff. The framework sets out a process for identifying and assessing risks and highlighting and reviewing controls and mitigation strategies.
Key actions to address risks identified under the framework include:
- Ensuring the People First strategy addresses current workforce trends and best practices to enhance talent attraction and retention.
- Building a strong information security approach, including expeditious recovery in the event that a significant information security incident occurs.
- Developing the financial framework/dependence in order to meet operating and performance expectations.
A semi-annual divisional-specific risk management process allows divisions to better manage their specific risks. An annual risk management cycle identifies key risks and exposures that the AGCO continues to address. Staff and management are involved in these risk assessments that help the AGCO identify and action its key risks. An annual risk workshop is held with the C-Suite to identify, assess and decide on prioritization and mitigation activities for the AGCO’s top risks.
The final key risks are reviewed and approved by C-Suite, the Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee and the Board.
These risk-assessment activities assist in the development of the AGCO’s Internal Audit Work Plan in addition to playing a fundamental role in the development of the AGCO’s Corporate Plan.
Workforce management risk
The AGCO will continue to develop its “People First” strategic plan that will include actions to retain, develop and attract the workforce needed to deliver on its mandate.
Information security risk
The AGCO will continue to assess, develop and implement information security awareness, policies and protocols to mitigate current and emerging cyber threats and increase the security maturity of existing controls. In addition, enhancing security awareness and security education increases knowledge and heightens staff vigilance.
Financial risk
The AGCO reviews and augments its financial risk mitigation measures to sustain operations and deliver on its mandate.
Workforce management
The AGCO continues to undertake a comprehensive transformation agenda to modernize its regulatory approach and business processes, including a focus on service excellence and workplace environment. The AGCO’s modernization efforts support and align with key government objectives for enhanced efficiency in delivering public services and reducing regulatory burden.
The AGCO’s Human Resources and Organizational Development Branch has updated its vision, strategy and roadmap to better deliver solutions that enable the organization’s talent to actively contribute to the achievements of the AGCO’s mandate and vision. A key component has been the launch of the new organizational development function to better support organizational effectiveness. This is done by ongoing development and reinforcement of programs, structures and processes to support and grow the agency’s talent.
The AGCO leverages a hybrid work model to support the needs of employees to balance their work and home lives, while maintaining an engaged, productive workforce. It enables AGCO employees, where operationally feasible, to work from other locations, such as home offices. In support of the evaluation of the agency's success in managing these priorities, the AGCO administers a monthly pulse survey to all staff and people leaders. 98% of the staff who completed the survey report that the hybrid work model contributes to their overall well-being; and 93% of the people leaders who completed the survey report that their staff regularly complete the tasks assigned to them at with a high level of quality within the time allocated. To provide optimal service delivery, the AGCO continues to utilize a risk management approach to identify priority areas and redeploy staff performing key regulatory activities to the areas of greatest need.
Diversity and inclusion
Since 2019, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DI&A) has been a corporate priority initiative under the AGCO’s five-year Strategic Plan. The AGCO has made significant progress in advancing DI&A, most notably through the development of a multi-year DI&A strategy in 2021, which followed an organization-wide assessment conducted by a third-party consultant. The strategy establishes the 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. To ensure a feasible and successful journey, our DI&A strategy comprises four foundational pillars in the following areas:
- Recruitment and Retention
- Strengthening and Embedding AGCO's DI&A Culture
- Public Face and Storytelling
- Accountability
In 2022-23, the AGCO focused on two of the pillars, as follows:
Strengthening and embedding the AGCO's DI&A Culture
The AGCO continued to recognize significant holidays and observances that celebrate racial and gender inclusivity, including National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month and International Women’s Day.
To support employees in their personal and professional DI&A journeys, several training and development opportunities with a DI&A focus were offered to employees. This included monthly videos on various topics such as unconscious bias, systemic racism, allyship and anti-harassment. Additionally, 69 staff in leadership roles were provided with Intercultural Development Inventory training to help assess, reflect, and learn about cultural sensitivity.
The AGCO also updated its coaching and performance program to further support employee development and growth in alignment with our DI&A strategy. As of April 2022, all employees are required to establish at least one goal with a DI&A focus as part of their performance development plan.
To recognize individuals at the AGCO for being catalysts for change in areas of diversity, inclusion and accessibility, a DI&A Award was introduced and added to our existing employee awards and recognition program. The inaugural award was presented to an individual for their efforts in 2022 in helping promote an equitable, inclusive, accessible, anti-racist and diverse workplace.
In our continued effort to meet our DI&A goals, the DI&A Committee, including its function, governance and membership, was refreshed in late 2022. Fifteen committee members were selected through a careful review process, which consisted of an agency-wide expression of interest. The members represent a true cross section of our diverse workforce and, together, serve as an advisory group to ensure diverse insights and perspectives are heard on all equity-related matters at the AGCO. To effectively carry out this work, working groups were formed and significant progress has already been made in the areas of education and training, data gathering and reporting, refining recruiting procedures, and expanding external partnerships. The DI&A Committee also participates in helping drive DI&A initiatives forward and acts as change agents to champion, strengthen and embed DI&A culture within our organization.
Accountability
Since 2020, the AGCO has been a signatory to the BlackNorth Initiative (BNI), which aims to end systemic anti-Black racism in Canada. The AGCO continued its commitment to the initiative by meeting with other signatories on a monthly basis to share updates, goals and progress, and to understand best practices to keep us accountable.
Early in 2023, the AGCO launched an employee census to better understand our workforce demographics at all levels within the organization. The voluntary, anonymous census asked staff to self-identify certain aspects of themselves, such as their race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. Before the census launched, we adopted an inclusive engagement process that consisted of two information sessions to help provide staff with context on gathering data, building trust and raising awareness. The data collected will be used to guide the AGCO's DI&A strategy and will help keep us accountable in our DI&A journey. In the first phase of the census, we had a participation rate of 51.7%. The next phase will track mobility and progression within the AGCO within our diverse populations.
Going forward, the AGCO will continue implementing its DI&A strategy, building on our four foundational pillars, strengthening our inclusive, people-first organization and continue measuring our progress.
Data collection
The AGCO has begun the first phase of developing and establishing an enterprise-wide data and analytics program in conjunction with an enterprise Digital Strategy. The objective of the program is to partner with AGCO stakeholders across all divisions to better leverage data as a strategic asset. The program aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our regulatory oversight by producing and managing data analytics and information products, guiding the organization on how to leverage data effectively to inform business decision making and to develop evidence-based policies and programs. The program will also establish enterprise governance of data and information assets to ensure these resources are managed according to their risk and value, and optimized for use by the AGCO, its partners and stakeholders.
The AGCO has developed a Data Governance framework that will allow users to work confidently with data and information, increasing its quality and availability while continuing to appropriately protect sensitive and confidential data. The Enterprise Data Catalogue will provide an authoritative view of the data and information landscape, connecting tangible assets to well-defined roles and responsibilities, and thereby providing critical support for the development of data-driven culture within the agency. Data privacy is further enhanced through ongoing guidance to project and business teams during system and program design, as well as coordinating and leading responses when breaches or other incidents occur.
To enhance technical capability and build a scalable data and analytics practice, the AGCO has begun to migrate onsite data and analytics tools to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. This will ensure the agency leverages modern analytics capabilities to help process large datasets and build agile, timely and informative analytics products. These tools will also support the agency’s ability to provide timely and relevant advice and information to the Ministry to support decision-making and policy development, as needed.
Digital delivery and customer service
The AGCO relies on digital platforms to deliver accessible, reliable, secure and customer-centric services to Ontarians. In line with the Government of Ontario’s Digital Service focus and commitment towards new digital practices and technologies to deliver simpler, faster, better services to Ontarians, the AGCO began the development of a Digital Strategy in 2022–23 to guide and prioritize the agency’s digitalization efforts.
The agency’s Digital Strategy will define future-state business and technology architecture needs and outline a digital maturity roadmap that will support the prioritization of initiatives, ensure continued alignment to enterprise strategy and optimize digital investments. Through the Digital Strategy, the AGCO will develop a comprehensive implementation plan that will chart the positive evolution of the agency’s digital business capabilities and portfolio, featuring current innovative and forward-thinking approaches, ways of working and alignment to digital trends.
The AGCO Digital Strategy will reinforce the service design practice that is in place to support customer and user-centred design and delivery of services, and better monitor our customers’ experience. The AGCO’s Customer Experience roadmap has been updated to include a new focus on the advancement in the use of user research to better inform our understanding of both digital and non-digital AGCO services in the coming year.
COVID recovery
The AGCO continues to work closely with the government to provide ongoing supports for the sectors we regulate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The AGCO swiftly responded to requests from regulated sectors and the Ontario Government to adapt our regulatory requirements to help protect public health while supporting the continued economic viability of the liquor, gaming, horse racing, and retail cannabis sectors.
The AGCO worked with the retail cannabis sector to implement curbside pickup and delivery from cannabis retail stores and will continue to support these retailers. In charitable gaming, many of the temporary COVID-19–related flexibilities were updated to provide permanent flexibility where possible. In the liquor sector, many of the reforms that were introduced to support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic have since been made permanent, such as takeout and delivery of liquor with food from eligible liquor sales licence premises and extended liquor retail store hours.
Aligning with public health requirements, all AGCO service transactions were made available to customers remotely when gathering restrictions were in place. With the re-openings of business and government services, customers continued to show a strong preference towards online services, although race day services were once again made available to support time-sensitive transactions available in person at select racetracks. Other in-person services are now available upon request by appointment.
The decision to change from a walk-in service model to a by-appointment model was the result of declining in-person service visits following the introduction of online services that began well before the pandemic, although was accelerated by it.
The AGCO continues to use its enhanced engagement toolkit to connect with its diverse stakeholder network within Ontario, as well as nationally and internationally, to seek feedback on the issues they care about. This includes its ConnectAGCO Digital Engagement Platform which provides the agency with access to innovative and accessible approaches to engage with its stakeholders and Ontarians. The engagement portal continues to allow the AGCO to undertake comprehensive consultations and engagements virtually and allows interested stakeholders to follow and participate in engagement opportunities to provide input on AGCO projects, policies and initiatives.