Liberals allege Ford government has political ties to career colleges under OSAP probe

As the Ford government grapples with a growing OSAP scandal at private career colleges, the Progressive Conservatives are facing new accusations of having political ties with the operators of some institutions that are under scrutiny.

In early October, the government said it had suspended six private career colleges from their OSAP eligibility and launched a sector-wide audit into the potential misuse of taxpayer dollars, after internal investigations found the actions of some colleges may have involved criminality.

The government referred the findings to the OPP, which is currently determining whether to launch a full criminal investigation.

Ontario’s Liberal Party, however, is questioning why the government didn’t act sooner despite receiving warnings as early as 2023 from a career college advocacy group, and accused the Progressive Conservatives of turning a blind eye.

Tyler Watt, the Liberal critic for universities and colleges, alleged Wednesday that cabinet ministers attended the campus opening of one of the suspected colleges mere months after the school was probed by government inspectors.

Elections Ontario records show that the founders of one private career college also donated to the PC Party since 2024. Public lobbying records show that the same school hired lobbyists who previously worked in the premier’s office.

“At best, it is incompetence and mismanagement. At worst, it’s potential corruption,” Liberal leader John Fraser told reporters. Fraser and Watt are also calling on Nolan Quinn, the province’s colleges and universities minister, to resign.

“He has not done his job, and that’s why he needs to step down. We need someone who’s actually going to take control of this absolute dumpster fire,” said Fraser.

The accusations come as the government took additional steps to mitigate the damage.

The Canadian Press reported Wednesday that Quinn barred three career colleges from being able to offer publicly funded student assistance until 2030. Previously, those colleges were only blocked for the year.

There are currently 242 career colleges that are eligible to receive OSAP in Ontario, all of which have now been cut off from the provincial program. Those actions have left students without promised funding just weeks into their school years and have left many without means to pay housing and food costs, said Fraser.

Career Colleges Ontario, the association representing hundreds of institutions, is urging the Ford government to reinstate student financial aid for students who were already approved.

Quinn said last week an internal investigation found “unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications submitted from the same geographic locations” and also pointed to the involvement of “immigration services firms” being directly tied or co-owned by some of the probed career colleges.

The government referred those findings to auditing firm KPMG for a further probe and Quinn said the government has also reported “it to the OPP and the Auditor General.” While the OPP is deciding whether to investigate, Ontario’s Auditor General told Global News the office only received a “notification” from the government, but that the province stopped short of requesting a formal value-for-money audit.