NDP calls for audit into $1 billion given to private administrators of public services

A new public sector union report is drawing attention to how much public money is going to private companies that administer government services.

Ontario’s opposition NDP is calling for an audit of three private companies who together got $1 billion last year to administer public services, including employment services and disability support.

In a letter to Ontario Auditor General Shelley Spence obtained by CTV News, NDP MPP Jessica Bell said it doesn’t make sense that payments to the companies rose rapidly in the last several years while frontline services experienced cuts or layoffs.

‘Some serious questions’: MPP

“It’s a lot of money,” said Bell said in an interview with CTV News Toronto on Monday.

“I’ve got some serious questions about where this money is going and whether it’s good value for money. The issue is that while these companies are receiving really big contracts, we’re getting questions from social service agencies who are saying, ‘Where is the money going?’”

The Ontario government has defended the payments as necessary as the work the companies do is expanding.

The figures originated in a report by the public sector union OPSEU, which has about 4,000 workers in those areas striking now for the fourth week.

A crowd of those workers blocked traffic at College Street and University Avenue in Toronto on Monday morning, as a union leader warned that without settlements the number of striking workers would soon grow.

Right now, there are around 4,000 workers striking across 22 employers in Ontario, OPSEU President JP Hornick said.

Union says picket lines could grow

If more bargaining units fail to reach deals over the next few months, they’re expected to join the picket lines as well, bringing the total number of total striking workers to about 15,000, they said.

“This is going to escalate. The first 22 locals were all in a legal strike position. They’ve been working on coordinated bargaining for the past couple of years,” Hornick said.

“And there’s another slew of them that are also in bargaining. And they’ll be joining in as their windows close and they don’t reach deals.”

The chief complaint of striking workers include the the loss of wages as a result of Bill 124, a law that capped public sector wage increases which was later ruled unconstitutional - as well as a overall decline in funding.

An OPSEU report released Tuesday found payments to Accerta more than tripled from $202 million in 2018-2019 to $672 million in 2024-2025.

Payments sent to WCG, which the report describes as a for-profit employment services administrator owned by an Australian company backed by U.S. private equity, increased 525 per cent, from $36 million in 2021 to $225 million in 2025.

Rounding out the top three were payments to Serco.

The company told CTV News earlier in June that it “values the relationship we have built with Ontario, and we are proud to work within the direction and guidelines provided to us by the Ontario government in service of its citizens.”

Bell’s letter raised questions about whether the administrative costs of these programs are reasonable.

“The Auditor General should also on high alert when companies are paid very large sums of money to administer or deliver government programs that have traditionally been delivered by the public sector. Ample evidence shows that private delivery of government services often results in higher costs, less transparency, and poorer outcomes than public sector delivery,” the letter says.

It also pointed to the previous audit of the Skills Development Fund, a $2.5 billion government program that in parts supplanted publicly funded education with grants to private companies.

That audit found the selection process was “not fair, transparent or accountable,” and numerous news reports pointed to PC Party donors and connected individuals who received the money, though the government maintained it kept a tight rein on the program.

“Could similar issues be playing out here with these three companies? It’s worth finding out,” the letter says.

CTV News Toronto reached out to the PC government for comment, and a spokesperson referred to a previous statement.

“Since 2021 the province has scaled up employment services which correlates to the increase in funding. Ontario’s Integrated Employment Services model is built on accountability and results. WCG and Serco were selected through open, competitive processes and their funding is tied directly to performance. Providers meet strict KPIs and submit to rigorous Ministry reporting, meaning if they are not producing results, providers don’t get paid,” said Ministry of Labour spokesperson Spenser Maki.