You wouldn’t know it by reading most of the news in Ontario this week, but a scandal is brewing at the LCBO. As the liquor strike came to an end, PressProgress — an outlet that covers “important issues that often go unreported by big corporate media outlets” — broke the news that the organization’s president is also a board member for a group pushing for privatized alcohol sales in the province. That is, to say the least, very bad form.
As Luke LeBrun revealed, George Soleas sits on the board of directors for the Retail Council of Canada, a lobbying group that features members including grocery and retail giants Loblaws and Walmart — which have a clear and distinct interest in alcohol liberalization in the province, a policy direction the Ford government is committed to. The LCBO is the province’s alcohol wholesaler and premier retailer, a position that raises billions of dollars a year for Ontario’s coffers.
The LCBO tried to explain away Soleas’s apparent conflict of interest, telling PressProgress that “in his capacity as an RCC board member, George does not receive any compensation, nor does he participate in any lobbying activities related to the modernization of the beverage alcohol marketplace.”
That’s not good enough. Not even close. The mere appearance of a potential conflict of interest on such a significant and controversial file is unacceptable and warrants an immediate investigation by the integrity commissioner. If Soleas had any sense, he’d resign from one or both boards. Doug Ford should demand as much just as quickly.
On the back of LeBrun’s reporting, Ontario’s opposition parties called for Soleas to resign; NDP leader Marit Stiles called his position “a massive conflict of interest.” Green leader Mike Schreiner echoed the point, saying his party would “welcome an investigation from the integrity commissioner so that Ontarians can get answers to the many transparency and accountability flags that this raises.”
The opposition parties are correct.
The Ford government has a history of scandals, the Greenbelt land-swap giveaway premier among them. There have been resignations (which came with generous compensation). Police are still investigating the affair.
Ontarians already have plenty of reasons to distrust the Ford government and many in its orbit. They didn’t need any more reasons to be skeptical or concerned about its integrity, how it forms and executes its policy agenda, how it manages relationships between the state and the private market. To the outside observer, it might look like a jumble, like there isn’t much daylight between the well-connected and their interests, while everyone else is on the outside looking in.
Under this government, it seems, you’re either a Ford insider or a sucker, an impediment to the blue side’s mission to civilize the province with cheap, convenient hooch and giveaways to corporations.
You want some liquor? You can get that from an underemployed stockboy at a predatory grocery store, but you’d better hope you don’t end up with stomach cancer, because who knows when you’ll get to see a doctor. You want to renew your driver’s licence? You can do that at your local Staples outlet, plopped down waiting in a $500 faux leather office chair while an associate asks you whether you’d like to overspend on a box of Bics.
Soleas should resign from one or both boards, and the integrity commissioner should investigate this affair all the way down. Ontario’s media should cover this issue closely, something most outlets haven’t done to date, save for PressProgress, which is doing everyone’s job for them right now. And Ford should take this opportunity to clean up his government, starting with himself.
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