Compliance activities

The AGCO inspects, monitors and educates to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The AGCO’s compliance approach is risk-based and outcome-focused.

• Risk-based refers to the regulatory risks underlying the Standards, regulations, laws and requirements. A risk-based compliance approach focuses the greatest resources on mitigating the highest risk areas.
• Outcome-focused means emphasizing the results that regulated sectors are meant to achieve, rather than prescriptive activities that must be carried out.

The compliance activities emphasize monitoring through a series of inspection activities, including unannounced inspections, responding to police reports and evaluating regulatory submissions and public complaints. The AGCO also conducts ongoing regulatory assurance activities, including regular audits, compliance reviews and mystery shopper visits.

In the horse racing sector, the AGCO ensures compliance with the Rules of Racing by reviewing alleged rule infractions and having Race Officials present to officiate races. The AGCO supports the health and welfare of horses and horse racing participants by monitoring and enforcing the Equine Medication and Drug Control Program and ensuring an official veterinarian is in attendance to supervise live racing.

Partnerships

To support a coordinated approach to compliance activities, the AGCO’s compliance approach places significant emphasis on working with local community partners, including police, fire services, municipal by-law and public health units. In the liquor sector, this work also includes administering the Police Report & Last Drink Programs in partnership with the police.

Mystery Shopper Program

The use of mystery shoppers in the grocery sector continues to be an effective tool to aid in evaluating how grocery stores are performing in preventing youth access to alcohol. Throughout 2022–2023, the AGCO will expand its Mystery Shopper Program to cover all liquor licensees operating within the province.

To adequately assess the sector’s ability to prevent youth access to cannabis products, the AGCO continues to use its Mystery Shopper Program to identify retailers who present an increased risk of permitting youth access. During this fiscal year, the AGCO enhanced the Mystery Shopper Program to support enhanced oversight of cannabis retailers operating close to high schools.

Educational activities

The AGCO proactively provides education to all sectors to increase their understanding of regulatory obligations and improve overall compliance. All new licensees or authorization holders in the liquor and cannabis sectors receive this education. In addition, any licensee or authorization holder can take advantage of these opportunities at any time throughout the life cycle of their licence.

Please note that all information in the following tables has been adjusted to align with the new methodology of categorizing inspections that was implemented in fiscal year 2021–2022.The category “miscellaneous compliance activity” includes but is not limited to compliance activity driven by intelligence or investigation activity, Mystery Shopper Program or criminal charges.

Table 13—Compliance Services inspections—Alcohol

Note: There is a variance between numbers reported in this table for 2020–21 violations cited and serious violations escalated for further review and what was reported in the 2020–2021 Annual Report as a result of changes to data categories.

Table 14—Compliance Services inspections—Lottery retailers

Table 15—Compliance Services inspections—Raffles