PEIThe P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission says it has taken steps to fix issues with how it selects and oversees agency liquor stores after concerns were raised in a recent report by the provincial auditor general.The auditor general made 12 recommendations for improvementsThinh Nguyen · CBC News · Posted: Sep 23, 2025 3:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoPEILCC tightens up procedures after AG report finds flawsThe P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission is making changes to tighten up some of its policies and procedures around the creation of agency stores in the province, after a recent report by the auditor general raised concerns. CBC’s Cody MacKay reports.The P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission says it has taken steps to fix issues with how it selects and oversees agency liquor stores after concerns were raised in a recent report by the provincial auditor general.Officials from the commission appeared before a legislative standing committee Tuesday to respond to the findings.The report, which reviewed agency store vendors and agreements up to Dec. 31, 2023, found the commission sometimes lacked proper documentation when choosing vendors and locations. In some cases, stores were not selected according to the requirements of regulations, and existing vendors were not always adequately managed.The audit included 12 recommendations for improvements. PEILCC acting CFO Matthew McMillan told MLAs that many have already been implemented while others are underway.”I would, at this point… suggest that 12 out of 12 are now in place,” McMillan said during the meeting.The commission currently oversees 12 agency stores — 10 year-round and two seasonal — which together generated about $17 million in gross sales in the 2024-25 fiscal year. “The… commission is actively responding to the AG recommendations, which was great to hear,” Liberal MLA Carolyn Simpson told CBC News after the meeting.Liberal MLA Carolyn Simpson said the dialogue during today’s committee meeting was ‘quite fruitful and quite positive.’ (CBC)”That said, I’m unclear — and committee is unclear — as to which recommendations of the 12 have been completed and which are still in progress, which is why we asked for an update, because there could well be reasons why things are still in progress and not yet to be completed.”Changes to vendor selectionOne of the audit’s main concerns was about how agency store vendors were chosen. McMillan said the commission has tightened its process by adding mandatory criminal background checks for applicants.”We feel that the new criminal background check has at least improved what potentially was a weaker procedure to ensure that the owners were eligible or appropriate for operating an agency store,” McMillan said.In response to the auditor general’s concerns about the lack of documentation on community and vendor selection, McMillan said the PEILCC has developed and implemented metrics for evaluating potential store locations.”So by adding metrics, quantifiable metrics, to each one of these criteria, we’re able to add accountability and transparency to how we determine if the community location itself is a viable option for an agency store,” he said.PEILCC acting CFO Matthew McMillan told MLAs that many of the auditor general’s 12 recommendations have already been implemented, while others are underway. (CBC)He said criteria include things like the community’s population, traffic volumes, whether a liquor agency already exists nearby, and whether there is community support for establishing a new one.McMillan added that the commission applied these metrics in its most recent request for proposals.Oversight of existing storesThe auditor general’s report also raised concerns about the PEILCC’s management and monitoring of existing agency store vendors.While the commission does conduct inspections and mystery shopper visits, the audit found certain key areas of agreements were not adequately monitored.The audit sampled 25 mystery shopper visits and found issues with staff not properly inspecting IDs in 84 per cent of the visits. In 10 of those visits, the employee failed to request ID at all.The auditor general found that the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission sometimes lacked proper documentation when choosing agency store vendors and locations. (Daniel Brown/CBC)McMillan said the results don’t necessarily mean stores are failing completely at checking IDs.”Although it’s concerning, you have to look at the full flow-through of all the procedures that a clerk is actually completing,” he said.He noted that clerks may still be taking other important steps, such as comparing the photo to the customer, checking birthdates and verifying age, feeling the ID to ensure it’s genuine, and checking the back of the card.Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker said that even with nuance, the 84 per cent rate is worrying — particularly given that P.E.I.’s impaired driving rate last year was three times the national average.”It’s alarming to me that that is going on,” he said during the meeting.The P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission is making changes to tighten up some of its policies and procedures around the creation of agency stores in the province, after an auditor general’s report found flaws. (Ken Linton/CBC)Bevan-Baker said stronger measures are needed to strengthen the security around alcohol sales, such as immediate feedback from mystery shoppers, follow-up from the commission and better staff training at agency stores.He also proposed a mandatory video training program for new employees, noting that in-person training leaves gaps when new hires start between sessions.”A pretty simple solution, to me would be to have a training video that’s made available to all the retail outlets, the people who own them, and that it’s mandatory for them when they have a new employee,” he told CBC News after the meeting.Linda Somers, the commission’s director of corporate affairs and regulatory services, added that starting next fiscal year, all corporate store employees will be required to undergo training with liquor inspectors every two years.”And we’re going to make it mandatory that agency staff are going to have to take training every couple of years as well,” Somers said.With files from Cody MacKay
P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission says it’s fixing problems flagged in AG report
