US Edition‘Not fair, transparent or accountable’: Ontario’s auditor general weighs in on $750M in Skills Development Fund grants
Ontario’s Skills Development Fund awarded $742 million to low- and medium-ranked applicants, with no clear rationale for excluding 670 high-ranked projects, Auditor-General found.
- On Oct. 1, 2025, Auditor-General Shelley Spence reported the $1.3-billion Skills Development Fund selection process was `not fair, transparent or accountable`, with Ontario's Labour Minister's office overriding civil servants' evaluations.
- Launched in 2021, the Skills Development Fund responded to post-pandemic labour shortages, running five funding rounds and becoming central to the Progressive Conservative government’s agenda.
- Non-Partisan Labour Ministry staff evaluated 3,343 applications from 2021–2025, scoring 1,135 high, 825 medium, 1,065 low, 54 poor and 266 ineligible, while 670 high-ranked applications were not selected.
- The report flagged lobbyist activity, noting 64 applicants who hired registered lobbyists received about $126 million, including approximately $11-million by Scale Hospitality after ministerial intervention.
- Premier Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario defended the program as `the best investment` while his government opened a sixth round and pledged $805 million committed for the next three years amid long-term sustainability concerns and a $2-billion child-care shortfall next year.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Ontario not fair, transparent when giving out skills training funding, auditor finds
Ontario's auditor general latest special report says Labour Minister David Piccini's office is heavily involved in selecting which applicants get money from the $2.5-billion skills training fund.
‘Not fair, transparent or accountable’: Ontario’s auditor general weighs in on $750M in Skills Development Fund grants
More than half the time, the Ontario labour minister’s office overrode the opinions of non-partisan staff to dole out around $750 million in grants to a multi-billion-dollar job training fund, according to the province’s Auditor General’s report released Wednesday.
Guelph Today
BREAKING: Ford government skills training funding ‘not fair, transparent or accountable’: auditor general
Ford government labour ministers overruled civil servants to fund skills training by groups with lobbyists, according to a scathing new report
WellandTribune.ca
Ontario skills training funding not fair or transparent, auditor finds
TORONTO - Ontario's auditor general says the provincial labour minister's office has not been using a fair or transparent process to dole out money from a $2.5-billion skills training fund.
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