TORONTO — Ontario’s problem-plagued lottery and gaming corporation was overhauled Monday as the province’s finance minister fired its CEO and replaced the entire board of directors.
The auditor general was also brought in to review questionable spending at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which included one executive charging taxpayers almost $500 for a nanny to attend meetings.
“This is the right (step) to take in terms of the public, and across government we need to make sure that we have rigorous accountability for all Crown agencies, boards and corporations,” said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
“We have been trying to create change in this place for some time.”
CEO Kelly McDougald was “dismissed with cause” and, as a result, will not receive severance, Duncan said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty will make an announcement in the coming days about a broader set of accountability initiatives, Duncan added. The move comes after the government found questionable expense claims filed by executives going back years.
They included the cancellation of a deposit on a Florida condo by Michael Sharland, the OLG’s former vice-president of security and surveillance who took a paid leave of absence in 2007.
Another OLG executive charged the agency nearly $500 for a nanny so that she could attend meetings in 2006.