a) I received one sheet of paper which listed 2 employees in 2000 which rose to 28 employees in 2006. Although I asked for 8 years, receiving the information for these 7 is adequate.
b) I received one sheet of paper which listed the total management bonuses between 2000 and 2008. Again 7 years is sufficient. Please see a chart of these results. It is up to the individual taxpayer as to whether these are reasonable amounts.
c) It took some time and extra asking, but by July 31, 2007 I received an 8-page list of LCBO job titles and the pay grades (min/max salary) that apply to them, and a one-page summary of 11 pay grades effective April 2006 with a maximum salary for the President/COO. Matching these with the 2006 Salary Disclosure act has produced the following interesting report. It would seem that the vast majority of those reported on the Salary Disclosure Act declared Salary well in excess of their maximum pay range.
d) Answer Received (LCBO response in black, normal - my thoughts in blue, and italics)
"There were no actual changes in the jobs of employees whose taxable benefits increased more than 100% from one year to another between 2001 and 2006. There were, however, changed circumstances which accounted for this increase. These changed circumstances are as follows:
A ruling by the Canada Revenue Agency regarding the reporting and allocation of a taxable benefit for certain expenses incurred by the LCBO on behalf of one of its employees."
My thoughts: In 2004 David Menzies, a free-lance reporter well-known to LCBO, wrote an article in the National Post which I have copied to my website, with Mr. Menzies permission, at this location. Is this article related to the ruling mentioned? According to this article, LCBO confirmed that then-Chair Andrew Brandt was using an LCBO owned car (confirmed in part a) above) and also in possession of a condominium in Toronto paid for by LCBO. Also according to the article Mr. Bill Kennedy of LCBO says this had been in place since the early 90's. Yet the Salary Disclosure Act shows that Mr. Brandt declared taxable benefits of only $161.40 for the year 2001, rising to $43,907.90 for 2005. (In 2005 Mr. Brandt also declared Salary of $269, 873.86, up almost 89% from the $142,955.26 of the previous year.) A cynic might ask whether the salary increase had covered back taxes, but I won't. The nonbeliever may also want to know if all amounts which were under-reported have been redressed for previous years, with the Canadian taxpayer receiving, through CRA, back taxes plus interest for previously declared amounts found to be inadequate under Canadian law. But it's not me asking such questions.
"Certain executive management positions were granted a car allowance with the approval of the Board of Directors, in lieu of receiving a per kilometer travel expense reimbursement when traveling on business using their own personal vehicles. the car allowance is reported as a taxable benefit."
For some time I have been highly suspicious of the fact that for many years, all people having the job title of "Senior Vice President" have reported, year after year, identical - to the penny - taxable benefits. These rose from $394.58 in 2001 to $16,133.10 in 2005. In no case was any person with such a title reported on this FOI request as having a board owned vehicle. If any one person had had this arrangement, it would have been impossible for all with this job title to have identical taxable benefits. I publicly apologize for holding this particular suspicion. I am highly interested in the whole issue of the car allowance for executive management positions, but this can wait for a later FOI request.
"There is no one single individual within the LCBO who is responsible for "such matters" - this would certainly depend on what the subject "matter" is about. For dealings with the Canada Revenue Agency and determination of issues relating to taxable benefits, senior management of the Finance Division were involved. Senior management of the HR Division as well as the Finance Division were involved in analyzing the car allowance issue for the approval by the Board of Directors. The Payroll Department calculates and allocates certain amounts of taxable benefits relating to LCBO-owned or leased vehicles. Senior management of the HR Division are responsible for reporting and submitting the correct information required under the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act."
As to the issue of who is in charge, I would have imagined that the Audit committee of the Board of Directors would have responsibility for "Such Matters". Seems that the lowest level LCBO employee who can be presumed to be responsible for "such matters" would be President Robert Peter.
FOI # 207115: In total, I received 6 sheets of paper, which included a covering letter, for the $135.00 (plus $5.00 initiation fee) spent. The response to # 207115 seems to have been made by Lila Walker, Director, Compensation & HR Administration.
