Man chosen to head LCBO chided by Queen’s Park panel
Committee members suggest nominee ill-prepared to lead province’s liquor board
To some people in the room, Ed Waitzer seemed surprisingly unprepared; to others he was being extremely cautious.
During his confirmation hearing as new chair of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), Waitzer was chided Wednesday by some panel members at Queen’s Park for not being prepared for his new post. When Paul Miller, an NDP member of the all-party standing committee on government agencies, asked Waitzer what direction he sees the LCBO going in over the coming years, Waitzer came up short in his reply.
“Do you have any vision whatsoever, a personal vision, . . . personal goals, any ambition towards the changes that might be implemented?’’ Miller asked.
“There’s always room for improving in an institution. I don’t have a specific policy,” Waitzer told Miller, a response that left an air of awkwardness in the committee room.
Waitzer is a partner at the Toronto- based law firm Stikeman Elliott, a former chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, and director of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law at Osgoode Hall and the Schulich School of Business at York University.
In his opening remarks to the committee Waitzer said he wasn’t graduating from a board position at the LCBO to its chair and had “limited interaction’’ with LCBO leaders.
New chair admits he doesn’t yet have ‘informed view’ on allowing alcohol sales in convenience stores
“A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous, so excuse me if I don’t volunteer opinions on issues in respect of which I simply don’t have sufficient expertise to provide an informed answer,’’ he told the committee.
He was later approved by the committee, but not unanimously.
In an interview afterward another committee member, NDP MPP Monique Taylor said, in her view, Waitzer didn’t do his homework.
“It’s like a job interview. This is a huge position. There are so many issues facing this agency. It’s important for the chair to understand what is going on,’’ Taylor said. During the hearing Taylor asked Waitzer his views on part-time workers at the LCBO. Hours of work, pay and benefits for part-timers were contentious issues in the last round of bargaining between the LCBO and its union. “I simply don’t have enough knowledge of the LCBO to give you an informed response to that question,” Waitzer replied. “What is your opinion on allowing convenience stores to sell alcohol?’’ Taylor asked. “I know the LCBO’s view. I’m not sure I have enough information to offer you an informed view yet,’’ he said. “You don’t seem to have much knowledge of what’s happening with the LCBO,’’ Taylor later told him. Waitzer told Liberal MPP Mike Colle, another committee member, that when he went to the Ontario Securities Commission having been a practising lawyer, he thought he knew a fair bit about securities regulation, but was wrong in that assumption. “What I didn’t know about was managing in the public sector and how challenging that is,’’ he said, later adding “part of my reticence in offering uninformed opinions (now) is really a response, in part, to that experience.’’ All three Progressive Conservatives members on the panel confirmed Waitzer. “We vetted him in advance. When you look at his (resumé) and his experience he’s very capable’’ said Tory MPP Lisa Thompson. She said Waitzer was simply in the “hot seat’’ and everyone finds it awkward facing tough questions from the committee. Liberal member Laura Albanese, who also voted to confirm Waitzer, said he has an extensive background in governance and management, and was simply being “extremely cautious’’ in his replies. The committee also confirmed Philip Olsson as chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.