Godfrey to head troubled OLG
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan pressed the reset button on Ontario's troubled lottery corporation Friday by installing a new board with National Post CEO Paul Godfrey at the helm.
The well-known Progressive Conservative took over this week as chairman of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., whose scandals over insider wins and executive expenses have dogged the Liberal government for years.
Duncan named five new board members Friday, including Dale Lastman — son of former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman — Toronto Lands Corp. CEO Shirley Hoy, former Onex Corp. executive Anthony Melman, PricewaterhouseCoopers tax expert Thomas O'Brien and chartered accountant William Swirsky.
The new board, which still has several empty seats, will meet for the first time next week to start looking for a new chief executive, Godfrey said.
"This board represents an excellent mix of business and social leaders in the province," he said in a statement.
"It's a board that can work at raising levels of accountability, responsibility and integrity at OLG, turning the page on events of the recent past."
The scandal-plagued agency has been under fire for years, with problems ranging from questionable insider wins to botched scratch-and-win tickets and malfunctioning slot machines.
Its troubles culminated last August, when Duncan cleaned house by firing then-CEO Kelly McDougald and announcing the entire board had been replaced by senior provincial bureaucrats.
That same day, Duncan released thousands of pages of what he called "unacceptable" expense claims filed by lottery executives, which included expensive dinners, memberships to Weight Watchers, gyms and golf clubs, and even a $1.12 grocery bag.
McDougald retaliated with an $8.4 million lawsuit, claiming she was fired because she refused make public scapegoats of other executives as the government tried to contain another expense scandal at eHealth, the agency tasked with bringing health records online.
The matter was quietly resolved in December with an out-of-court cash settlement worth $747,925.
Godfrey, who got the nod from Duncan in November to take the OLG reins, said he met with OLG employees over the last few weeks and saw an "appreciation for what still lies ahead."
"Clearly a lot of things are being done right at this agency," he said.
"There are challenges ahead, but I'm optimistic and I look forward to working with this government and my new colleagues on the board."
At a Friday morning news conference at OLG headquarters in downtown Toronto, Godfrey sketched out some of his priorities.
Godfrey says things could be done to expand OLG revenues.
He said he would like Ontarians to be able to bet on pro basketball and he's also interested in exploring internet gaming.
"Money is going out of this province to other provinces, as well as to some offshore sites, but I want to find out all the implications of doing this," he said.
Godfrey also wants to restore public trust in OLG.
"There [needs to be] a sense of integrity, that the people who play our lottery games and in our casinos are protected," he said.
The government will recruit other board members in the coming months.
Godfrey, a former Toronto-area politician, isn't giving up his job as the Post's president and CEO.
He landed at the newspaper a year ago after leaving his post as head of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. Prior to the Jays, Godfrey headed a 1996 management-led buyout of what was then the Toronto Sun Publishing Corp., which was later purchased by Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. and became Sun Media.