OPP to investigate company that got millions from provincial jobs fund, ministries

The Ontario Provincial Police are proceeding with a forensic audit of a company that received grants from the Skills Development Fund. Siobhan Morris explains.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are proceeding with a formal investigation into a company that received grants from a controversial multi-billion dollar jobs training fund as well as the province’s Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

The OPP was called in when the provincial government passed on the results of a forensic audit into the company, Keel Digital Solutions, and its subsidiary, Get-A-Head, and the force said Monday it would proceed.

“The OPP Anti-Rackets Branch has completed its review and will be proceeding with an investigation,” said OPP spokesperson Gosia Puzio.

“At this time, we cannot release any details or speculate on how long the investigation will take,” she said.

Keel Digital Solutions has said it believes it is being scapegoated for the problems with the Skills Development Fund, a $2.5 billion job training fund that has been pilloried in the legislature’s Question Period for weeks as a “slush fund” to supporters of the governing PC Party.

“Keel remains steadfast in its assertion that it has complied with all laws and contract obligations. We welcome the OPP and will be completely transparent and co-operative. We look forward to the government’s apology at the end of this; and we remain focused on facilitating mental health supports for the province’s most vulnerable communities,” said Chief Operating Officer Jay Fischbach in a statement.

Auditor General Shelley Spence found that the choice of recipients for the Skills Development Fund was not transparent, fair or accountable in October.

Before he was Labour Minister and overseeing the fund directly, David Piccini was spotted at rink-side Maple Leafs seats with Keel director Peter Zakarow.

Piccini said he paid for the tickets, but CTV News reported the seats were season tickets belonging to the Zakarow family.

The NDP has made an integrity commissioner complaint that Piccini also attended the wedding in Paris for a lobbyist for Keel, Michael Rudderham.

Piccini himself told NewsTalk1010 that he had personally intervened to approve the grant to Keel.

According to the provincial government, a routine audit in 2023 revealed irregularities with Get-A-Head, which prompted the forensic audit. The provincial government said it forwarded those results to the OPP.

Get-A-Head received $32.74 million from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities from 2022-2025, with about $12.75 million in the latest fiscal year, records show.

Also in that final year it received $1.8 million from Ontario’s Ministry of Health and $2.3 million from the Labour Ministry’s Skills Development Fund.

Ontario’s Liberal Party said in a statement it has called for more details about the initial audit, including when it was completed, when it started, and how much money Keel received after it was flagged.

“No company that has been flagged for a forensic audit should be collecting money from taxpayers — especially when the company’s lobbyist is the Minister of Labour’s close personal friend, and one of its directors was seated in family-owned rinkside seats with that same minister at a Toronto Maple Leafs game," the party said in a statement.