Ontario labour minister faces resignation calls amid discord between public, private sector unions

There are calls for Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini to resign over allegations surrounding upwards of $100 million in grants. Jon Woodward reports.

The minister in charge of Ontario’s Skills Development Fund is facing calls for his resignation from a union leader in the wake of allegations that over $100 million for jobs retraining have been funneled to projects helmed by political allies.

Fred Hahn of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said he was surprised at how Minister David Piccini responded to questions from CTV News when a crew caught up with him outside a Brampton event Thursday in a seven-minute exchange.

• WATCH: Ont. Labour Minister questioned over ties to companies seeking government grants

“I think it is deeply troubling that a minister of government responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars cannot and will not answer direct questions from anyone about how those decisions were made,” Hahn said.

Also troubling, Hahn said, is the report from the province’s auditor general that political staff overrode the recommendations of non-partisan staff to fund $750 million in projects that were low-scoring.

“This kind of cloud is deeply troubling. It understandably impacts public trust, and the minister is directly responsible for that. And so, to clear the air, he’s got to step aside,” Hahn said.

The office of Ontario Premier Doug Ford gave no indication they felt Piccini should go.

“Our office has confidence in Minister Piccini to continue to serve as Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development,” said Hannah Jensen, the premier’s deputy director of media relations, in a statement.

The Skills Development Fund is on track to give out some $2.5 billion in grants, aimed at retraining workers to better find jobs amidst economic headwinds like the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. tariffs.

But reporting from CTV News has tracked upwards of $100 million that has gone to groups that endorsed Premier Doug Ford in his most recent election campaign, some $80 million that went through one lobbyist who also has managed Ford’s election campaigns, as well as several cases that went to companies connected to PC party donors.

Most agencies claimed there was no quid pro quo with their projects, and they won the grant on merit. One private sector union, LiUNA, said allegations a grant was “transactional” was “nothing more than a smear campaign.”

Ontario’s NDP have complained to the province’s integrity commissioner about Piccini’s attendance at a wedding in Paris of a lobbyist working for one company that got some $7.5 million in grants.

Piccini was also photographed in rinkside seats with one of that company’s directors while he was environment minister.

• READ MORE: Ontario labour minister attended Leafs game, wedding with those seeking millions from Skills Development Fund: reports

Reached Friday, Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji didn’t go as far as calling for the minister’s resignation but said that more has to be done to shed light on where grant money went and why.

“We have a government that does not conduct itself in a fair, transparent and accountable manner,” he said. “And at the end of the day, we need to get to the very bottom of who is responsible.”

While a list of grant recipients has been made public, the grant total has not, nor has the rating of each application by non-partisan staff.

On Thursday, Piccini responded to a CTV News question about secrecy in the grant process by saying, “the Skills Development Fund is changing lives… I’ve been at almost every recipient to see the life-changing training that goes on.”

Piccini also denied that there was an effort to politically turn certain unions by using the fund’s money.

“It’s a bit ironic that in the past people criticized the PCs about not having the support of labour. And now that we do, (they’re) trying to find any reason,” he said Thursday.

The dispute over the Skills Development Fund has exposed a rift in the labour movement, with public sector unions like OPSEU criticizing the fund in the wake of a collapse in funding for public colleges.

Meanwhile, LiUNA broke with the Ontario Federation of Labour over OPSEU’s criticism of the fund. Records show LiUNA got at least $27 million.

CUPE was not a recipient of a grant, Hahn said, and the published list doesn’t include their union.

“We don’t pit each other against each other. This is exactly what the actions of this government are doing,” he said.