Romano sees opportunity for more jobs at Sault OLG office

“I certainly know how important OLG jobs are to our community.”

That from Sault MPP Ross Romano when asked about the ongoing quest to have more Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) jobs transferred from the crown corporation’s Toronto office to its head office in Sault Ste. Marie.

Despite the Sault OLG office’s designation as the corporation’s head office, approximately 800 of OLG’s 1,300 employees are employed at its Toronto office and an approximate number of 500 here in the Sault.

Over the years, many of those 800 jobs were moved from the Sault to Toronto.

“While they tried to fill the positions in Sault Ste. Marie first, they ended up getting moved to Toronto and they have been for decades. We have been at risk of losing those jobs for a long time, and for a long time I’ve heard of the risk of losing the jobs we have. We’ve all heard it, we’ve all seen it in our community,” Romano said.

“What I want to say is there’s no risk to those 500 jobs, but there is a tremendous opportunity for (some of) those 800 jobs that exist in Toronto (to be moved to the Sault OLG office).”

Romano pointed to a visit by Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy to the Sault in August in which the minister was reminded by a Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce audience of the importance of OLG jobs for the community.

“We would love to see (some of) those jobs moved to the Sault. I can’t answer in terms of whether more are coming...but I’m working on finding a way to secure some more jobs for our community. It was important to first shore up what we had before you can even think of moving forward. The biggest problem that we always hear from OLG corporate offices is that they can’t fill these positions in the Sault because they don’t have the experienced, qualified staff here in the Sault, so those jobs inevitably get moved, slowly they have moved to Toronto,” Romano said.

Romano said he took action, in his previous role as Minister of Colleges and Universities, to develop microcredential programs to provide training for staff to upgrade their skills in order to rectify the drain of Sault jobs away from places of employment such as OLG.

In his current portfolio as Minister of Government and Consumer Services, Romano holds responsibility for the Ontario government’s real estate assets, OLG being one of the province’s largest tenants.

With so many people having worked from home in the pandemic, Romano said people in larger centres such as Toronto are starting to see the benefits of resettling in smaller cities such as the Sault. They are able to get away from the big city pace and cost of living while keeping their jobs by working remotely.

“I think that creates a tremendous opportunity for 800 OLG jobs, or any number of them (to be relocated to the Sault). The Minister of Finance (responsible for OLG) knows how important it is to our community for more of those jobs to be in the Sault. He’s aware of that and it’s a discussion that we’re having,” Romano said.

Meanwhile, a recent audit of OLG conducted in 2020 and recently posted online, found nearly 30 per cent of $260,000 in spending by OLG staff, using corporate credit cards, was spent on furniture and travel, purchases which the auditor stated could have been made in other ways.

The audit also found some OLG executives, between 2015 and 2018, received hefty raises ranging from 16 to 46 per cent, higher than raises of three to 10 per cent at other crown corporations.

“OLG welcomes independent reviews of its business which contribute to improved operations and enhanced accountability,” stated Tony Bitonti, OLG external communications director in an email.

“OLG is working to execute 85 Management action plans to implement the recommendations of the Treasury Board audit. To date, OLG has completed 94 per cent of actions related to phase one of the OIAD audit and more than 70 per cent related to phase two. TBS validates OLG’s progress on a regular basis.”

"The audits covered a range of topics including the use of credit cards for work-related expenses such as business travel and office supplies. While all transactions noted in the audit were found to be legitimate work-related expenses, the recommendations have already been implemented by OLG.”

“With respect to executive compensation, current salary ranges were approved by the Board and the government in 2018. A third-party review has confirmed these salary ranges fall within market rates for the broader public sector. Executive base salaries have been frozen since 2018, and OLG’s variable pay program has been tightened to align with the achievement of tangible business results,” Bitonti stated.

“I know we’ve had some great work in the OLG modernization strategy," said Romano. "The new OLG CEO Duncan Hannay and I have had numerous conversations. We toured the OLG office in the Sault and we had some very good, productive conversations about the opportunity that exists and the direction that the agency is moving in, and I think there are some very strong, positive things ahead for OLG, but we always have to make sure we are representing the people who we’re accountable for in the best possible way and I think Duncan has a very good ability to manage that organization moving forward.”

“I look forward to working with Duncan and Minister Bethlenfalvy to see how we might be able to realize some of the benefits that exist in the organization and certainly some of those opportunities that exist for our community,” Romano said.