Ontario’s Minister of Labour faces new ethics complaint, poll shows support for his removal

A poll suggests 52 per cent of Ontarians think Labour Minister David Piccini should resign over the Skills Development Fund controversy. Andrew Brennan reports.

A majority of Ontarians believe the province’s labour minister should resign or at least be removed from office as questions continue to swirl around the $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund, according to a new public opinion poll by Abacus Data.

The poll came the same day that Minister David Piccini faced a complaint to the legislature’s ethics watchdog by the opposition Ontario Liberal Party, alleging he violated the rules for elected representatives by handing out certain grants to connected figures or supporters.

• Opposition questions the role of Ontario labour minister’s wife in Skills Development Fund grants

“Taken together, these facts paint a disturbing picture: a minister using public power to advance private connections,” said Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth at a press conference.

Smyth stood in front of a board of pictures and text connected by twine to illustrate the connections they see between public grants and party donations or support.

Key to the complaint is a photograph of Piccini in rink-side seats belonging to the director of the company, Keel Digital Solutions, that would go on to get millions of dollars in grants.

Piccini also attended the wedding of a lobbyist for that same company and said on NewsTalk 1010 that he intervened to ensure that company would be funded.

Also featured in Liberal the board was a photo of Doug Ford’s campaign manager, Kory Teneycke, who is now a lobbyist for companies that got upwards of $82 million in grants, according to a CTV News analysis.

“This minister should be fired, and we are all calling on the premier to fire him today,” Smyth said, saying the complaint had been taken to the legislature’s Integrity Commissioner.

In the Abacus Data poll, which was commissioned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), 51 per cent of respondents said Piccini should resign or be removed, while 28 per cent said he should continue in his role. Twenty-two per cent said they were not sure.

In another question, 46 per cent said they believe this is a broader problem with the Ford government and how it awards contracts and grants. Twenty-three per cent said it is mainly about the minister, and nine per cent said they don’t believe anything is being mismanaged. Twenty-two per cent were not sure.

However, those answers were only provided by respondents who had heard about the scandal: some 57 per cent of respondents indicated they had not.

Pollsters surveyed 2,000 Canadians living in Ontario. The results are considered accurate +/- 2.19 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

“This government is using public money inappropriately, and that recycles back to massive donations to their party. This is serious,” said CUPE President Fred Hahn in an interview.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford shrugged off a question about the poll and kept walking after a brief scrum in the legislature hallways on Monday. Ford’s last comments about Piccini were that he supports the minister.

• Rinkside seats Piccini spotted in belonged to family of director of company that got millions from Skills Development Fund

Piccini has defended the fund in Question Period repeatedly for weeks, as opposition parties have called for his resignation. He has also pointed to other NDP and Liberal figures or donors who have their connections to projects that were funded, though his office has rebuffed questions from CTV News about the precise breakdown.

“This fund supports people at every stage of their career. Whether it’s unemployed, underemployed, people on social assistance, how do you measure it? We get them into part-time employment, we get them standing on their feet, earning a paycheque,” the minister said.

An audit by the province’s auditor general found that political staff overrode recommendations about who should get grants by non-partisan staff for almost three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of grants.

Piccini said they have implemented new measures, like tracking SIN numbers, in the wake of the auditor general’s report and said they plan to post some data about the next round of grants in the coming months.

Also on Monday, the office of the federal jobs minister told CTV News that they had concluded their review of the use of federal dollars in the program, saying that while the province had funded many lower-scoring applications, it was not a breach of the governments’ agreement, because no recipient was technically ineligible.