Description: When Peter Cook, a former ‘franchise’ holder, took the Crown corporation NB Liquor to court over the awarding of a contract to a different store owner in the small town of Hartland, it was probably somewhat embarrassing for the government of New Brunswick, (the sole ‘shareholder’ of NB Liquor). But this past week allegations surfaced from a former senior official at NB Liquor, placing additional attention on issues of governance and decision-making at the Crown corporation. A former NB Liquor board member, who is tangentially involved in the matter as a lawyer, declared that he was “gravely concerned by the lack of compliance with basic governance principles in this matter.”

Date:  November 8, 2021

Source:  cbc.ca

 Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-liquor-whistleblower-hartland-1.6241269

Discussion points:

1) How are alcoholic beverages marketed around your university? Are they available only through government-run stores or are they more widely available?

2) Do you think whistle blower legislation is a good thing for Canadians?

3) On page 7-11 in Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making, you can read about a federal Crown corporation, the Royal Canadian Mint. (See https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/reports-1400016.) As a class activity, compare information available from NB Liquor (https://www.anbl.com/reports) to that of the Mint, and see if you can develop preliminary questions and impressions for comparing the governance practices of the two Crown agencies.