Ford defends system of skills development funding, won’t axe minister under fire

Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development David Piccini speaks to media at Queen’s Park in Toronto, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Laura Proctor

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his government’s skills-development funding system that allows a minister to hand-pick recipients against the advice of bureaucrats, even after referring an audit of one company to the police.

Labour Minister David Piccini has come under sustained fire from opposition parties calling for his resignation since an auditor general’s report found his office has been heavily involved in selecting projects under the $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund – and has doled out money to applicants ranked low by bureaucrats.

Ford said Monday he is continuing to support Piccini and suggested there is merit in funding projects that received low rankings from bureaucrats.

“The public service, once again, don’t have the opportunity to get in the field, to talk to the front-line people,” he said. “They don’t see the projects coming down the tunnel, as we say.”

One such recipient, Keel Digital Solutions – which the minister has said received a lower score – is being closely scrutinized, as media reports say one of its lobbyists is a close friend of Piccini’s.

Now, the government says it has asked the Ontario Provincial Police to look at the results of an audit that identified “irregularities.”

• READ MORE: OPP notified following forensic audit of Skills Development Fund recipient, province says

“In 2023, a routine audit raised concerns about an external service provider,” the government wrote in a statement.

“That process identified irregularities that led to a comprehensive forensic audit of the organization in question. The results of the audit, received last week, recommended that the matter be referred to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). Within 24 hours of receiving this report, the referral was made.”

The OPP confirmed in a statement that it had received the government’s request.

“The matter has been assigned to the OPP Anti-Rackets Branch for assessment, to determine whether a criminal investigation is warranted,” a spokesperson wrote.

The company said in a statement that the audit refers to a contract it has had since 2020 with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to deliver student mental-health services, not skills-development funding, and it believes the government is conflating the two “for the sole purpose of distracting from a self-inflicted mess.”

“Keel was repeatedly told by auditors that the process showed no irregularities or ‘red flags,’” the company wrote. “An OPP referral is not a finding; anyone can refer anything.”

The government has, in the meantime, frozen funding to Keel. The company says it is owed $8.3 million for services already delivered, and freezing funding harms student and community mental health.

“If the province were serious about supporting the mental health of vulnerable communities, it would send Keel the audit today,” the company wrote.

“Instead, it’s withholding the report despite repeated requests: forcing Keel to fight a ghost in the media while the public is left to guess.”

The opposition parties questioned why Keel was given more government funding through the Skills Development Fund while it was the subject of an audit.

“How does it happen that you’re putting out a grant to someone who’s in forensic audit?” Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser asked in question period.

“A forensic audit is, what you’re saying to that person is, ‘We don’t trust what you’re telling us.’ I guess my question to the minister is, how the heck did that happen?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2025.