David Piccini, Ontario’s Labour Minister, is under scrutiny amid an ethics investigation focused on his office’s management of the Skills Development Fund. This good faith investigation follows an important report released from Auditor General Shelley Spence. She expressed deep concern about the transparency and fairness of the process used to select recipients from the fund.
Our subsequent investigation found that Piccini’s office was heavily involved with picking winners and losers on who received training dollars. Auditor General Spence pointed out that the process lacked fairness, as over 60 lower-scoring applicants were approved after hiring lobbyists. This practice has come under fire from opposition parties, who accuse the government of providing preferential treatment and demand accountability.
For seven weeks, Piccini suffered harsh, unbroken cross-examination from hostile opposition members at Queen’s Park. At every turn, they attacked his record of behaviour and impugned the integrity of the fund. Under increasing fire, he has thus far resisted calls to step down from his perch, even as he claims to care deeply for the troubled program. For his part, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford has defended Piccini to the hill, promising to not fire his minister.
Critics have understandably been ruthless in their denunciation of the mismanagement. New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles stated, “There’s very clear lines here between the minister of labour and donors and lobbyists who are connected to the premier, to the minister of labour, friends and family.” She insisted that Piccini be forced to resign from his post in light of the auditor general’s disastrous findings.
Liberal ethics critic Stephanie Smyth unleashed a fierce condemnation of the Skills Development Fund. She described it as a “personal piggy bank” for the administration. She added, “If Doug Ford lacks the spine to fire David Piccini, I am calling on the minister to step aside now.”
The Skills Development Fund has been vital to successfully training close to 700,000 individuals. Perhaps most impressively, nearly 100,000 people found employment within just two months of finishing their training under this program. After its success in providing job training, the current controversy does much to erode public confidence in its administration.
In response to the situation, Premier Ford remarked on Piccini’s willingness to cooperate with the integrity commissioner, stating, “I know he’ll co-operate with the integrity commissioner.” He expressed optimism about the future of the fund, asserting, “We’re going to continue on training people and making sure we hit over a million people trained in the sector.”
