Integrity commissioner to probe Ontario labour minister's handling of controversial training fund

Ontario's ethics watchdog says it will investigate whether the province's labour minister contravened any laws in his handling of a controversial training fund.

Integrity Commissioner Cathryn Motherwell will launch the inquiry, her office confirmed Thursday.

The investigation will determine if Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini contravened sections of the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994 when he administered the $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund.

Both Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth, who represents Toronto-St. Paul's, asked for an inquiry, according to Juliet Kadzviti, spokesperson for the office of the integrity commissioner.

"The requests asked the Commissioner to determine whether David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development contravened sections of the Act in relation to the application and selection process of the Skills Development Fund Training Stream," Kadzviti said in an email on Thursday.

"As the two requests cover similar subject matter, the Commissioner has decided to deal with them together under one inquiry."

Kadzviti said a report will be filed with the speaker of the Ontario legislative assembly once the inquiry is completed.

In a statement on Thursday, Ontario's labour ministry's office said: "We are continuing to assist the Integrity Commissioner with her work on this file.

"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."

Opposition parties have been calling for Piccini's resignation for weeks now over his handling of the fund, which provides funding to organizations to address challenges in hiring, training or retraining workers. 

In early October, Auditor General Shelley Spence issued a special report with damning findings on how $1.3 billion in the fund was awarded. Spence said the selection process for funding was "not fair, transparent or accountable."

Piccini has defended the fund and his close involvement in selecting recipients. He has denied any wrongdoing and continued to award the funding in the weeks since the auditor’s report was made public.

"I think when we see the changes in labour market needs and we see changing realities in every corner of Ontario, it's important that I and government, who are elected by the people, ultimately have the say in where these are going," he said during an October news conference.

In early December, the Ontario Provincial Police said its anti-rackets branch will investigate Keel Digital Solutions, a software company that received funding from the provincial government and that was also connected to the fund.