Questions surround David Piccini regarding taxpayer dollars reportedly funding a Toronto nightclub
This is the latest in a series of ethically shaky revelations
If the ongoing Skills Development Fund troubles were a fictional screenplay, it would be riveting—Leonardo DiCaprio as a David Piccini–esque figure? It could work!
Unfortunately for Ontario taxpayers, the allegations of misspent funds are very much a real issue, and they continue to pile up. After reports of Labour Minister Piccini attending a Maple Leafs game in seats apparently owned by a beneficiary of the Skills Development Fund, which he oversees, and partying it up at the Paris wedding of a lobbyist, the latest is that funds were reportedly allocated to a new Toronto nightclub.
Related: Doug Ford’s cabinet ministers are getting a lot of speeding tickets
According to the Trillium, two hospitality companies owned by entrepreneur Zlatko Starkovski have received about $10 million in taxpayer funds through their association with a Skills Development Fund–approved non-profit. Through the non-profit, funds go toward training employees at Starkovski’s events businesses. His Exhibition Place nightclub space, which recently rebranded as FYE Ultraclub, invites patrons to “experience the wild side of nightlife” and is billed as “Toronto’s first ultraclub featuring breathtaking burlesque performances.”
The Trillium’s report noted that Starkovski denied using funds to train performers at the club. He also pushed back on the suggestion that he runs a strip club, though his establishment was issued an adult entertainment licence earlier this year. Piccini, too, denied any allegations of misspent funds.
“FYE Ultraclub features burlesque performers, aerialists, musicians, and world-class DJs—professionals who are part of a curated artistic program designed to deliver a premium entertainment experience,” Starkovski told the Trillium.
As for Piccini, a spokesperson said, “Any suggestion that SDF funding has been used for anything other than delivering training for workers to obtain employment in in-demand sectors is unequivocally false.”
Ontario’s auditor general recently called Piccini’s Skills Development Fund allocation “not fair, transparent or accountable.”
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.
