Ontario’s colleges and universities minister said Tuesday he will not be releasing a government-commissioned audit into student financial aid usage at career colleges. Nolan Quinn announced last month that he had engaged KPMG to audit the sector following concerns about rising usage in the Ontario Student Assistance Program. Preliminary findings from that audit alarmed the government enough to refer the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police. But Quinn does not intend to make those findings public, he said. “Ultimately, we want to keep ensuring that the confidentiality of that audit is taking place, but we will act accordingly with the results of that audit,” Quinn said after question period. A spokesperson for Quinn later said that they will “consider” releasing information from the audit if it doesn’t compromise a potential police investigation, a potential future auditor general investigation, “or the ministry’s efforts to obtain evidence, recover funds and hold bad actors accountable.” Quinn has previously said that the preliminary findings include concerns about “common ownership, the involvement of immigration services firms and co-location between private career colleges and immigration recruitment or immigration services firms, inadequate student validation and verification of course enrolment and outcomes, and unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications submitted from the same geographic locations.” Career Colleges Ontario has been warning the government for years about OSAP activity at a small number of schools. Ministry documents filed in court about two schools show the government has received tips alleging that recruiters are applying for OSAP on students’ behalf, and that thousands of applications came from a single IP address. The schools have denied allegations of wrongdoing. The Liberals have tried to get the legislature’s public accounts committee, which has a majority of Progressive Conservatives, to ask the auditor general to investigate so there is a probe released publicly, but the Tories voted the motion down. “We already have KPMG doing their investigation,” Quinn said Tuesday. “We want to ensure that audit that’s taking place is done thoroughly and without distractions from another audit that’s taking place.” Lee Fairclough, who tabled the auditor general motion in committee, said she has no idea why Quinn would say that could be a distraction. “The auditor general is there for this exact purpose, to be able to do a review of government spending and government programs and look at how it cannot happen again,” she said. NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the public is paying for the KPMG audit, so the public should get to see its findings. “I’m tired of this government trying to sweep things under the carpet,” she said. “People in Ontario deserve to know what they knew, when they knew it, and so that transparency is very important.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2026. Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
