Ontario’s integrity commissioner is investigating the $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund
Allegations of fund mismanagement have plagued labour minister David Piccini in recent months
Well, this seemed inevitable.
Following allegations of conflicts of interest and funding mismanagement, Ontario’s integrity commissioner, Cathryn Motherwell, will probe labour minister David Piccini’s Skills Development Fund distribution.
The ethics watchdog is set to determine whether Piccini broke any laws while administering the $2.5-billion fund, which is meant to develop the province’s workforce by “funding innovative projects that address challenges to hiring, training or retaining workers, including apprentices, to drive Ontario’s economic growth,” according to the provincial government’s website.
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Criticism has plagued Piccini in recent months. He was seen at a Maple Leafs game in rinkside seats belonging to the family of Peter Zakarow, the director of a company that has received millions from the fund. He also attended the Paris wedding of lobbyist Michael Rudderham, who represents Keel Solutions, which received at least $2.7 million from the fund.
In November, the Trillium’s ongoing Skills Development Fund reporting revealed that a company that received millions from the fund is run by a dentist whose patients have allegedly included Premier Doug Ford’s family members. (Ford told the publication that his immediate family members aren’t patients of the dental practice, but that it’s possible his extended family could be.)
Also according to the Trillium, a burlesque club owned by entrepreneur Zlatko Starkovski received about $10 million in taxpayer funds through its association to a Skills Development Fund–approved non-profit.
Ontario’s auditor general said earlier this year that Skills Development Fund allocation has not been “fair, transparent or accountable.”
While opposition parties have called for Piccini to resign—it was the Liberal and NDP leaders who requested the investigation—the labour ministry’s office said in a statement yesterday that it is cooperating with the integrity commissioner.
“The Skills Development Fund has so far trained nearly 700,000 people for good-paying careers in sectors such as manufacturing, skilled trades and health care, and helped more than 100,000 people find good-paying jobs within 60 days of completing the program,” said the statement, per CBC. Piccini’s office has denied all allegations of misspent funds.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
