Giving away other people’s money seems like the best job in the world. It takes an unusual level of incompetence and effort to turn that into a public mess that draws criticism, controversy and an official report by the Auditor General of Ontario slamming your work.
But Labour Minister David Piccini’s office has managed to do just that in recent weeks as it has faced criticism for intervening in a provincial program it oversees and doling out $742 million to applicants that weren’t as deserving as those it rejected.
More than half of the projects Piccini’s office gave funding to were ranked by bureaucrats as poor, low or medium under the program’s goals and criteria, Auditor General Shelley Spence found.
She also said that 64 low- and medium-ranked projects that Piccini’s office chose for funding had hired registered lobbyists, which “can create an appearance of real or potential preferential treatment.”
Piccini has insisted that the many of the projects selected by his staff turned out well and that his staffers had a better sense of real business need than the provincial employees who designed the program.
The $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund was set up during COVID to provide training and support for workers. Ministry staff developed the applications and scoring system to rank those best qualified for support. But Piccini’s staff frequently intervened and sent money to lower-ranked projects. The auditor general found those plans were more likely to miss their targets, fail to train the required staff, and generally underperform.
Piccini has insisted he and his staff were just doing their jobs and ensuring projects met the government’s political goals.
“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,” Piccini said at a news conference after the auditor general released her report.
Spence found that in the first two rounds of funding, Piccini’s office did not give a documented reason why it chose 388 projects that received a total of $479 million.
One application was chosen by the minister’s office despite ranking “low” and duplicating many aspects of existing programs, the auditor said.
My favourite is that one successful applicant was chosen even though the “program” would only provide training for one person – the applicant.
As someone who has helped write some grant applications in the past, I love their chutzpah and am amazed at their success. Unfortunately, we don’t know who they are, how much they got, or how they trained themself. The comedy skit practically writes itself.
“There were 670 applications that ranked “High” that were not selected for funding, with little rationale to explain why they were not chosen,” says the auditor general’s report. “The audit found the selection process was not fair, transparent or accountable. The audit confirmed that the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development had sound processes for evaluating applications and monitoring the recipients.”
In plain English, that means the government staff did their job properly and knew what they were doing. The minister’s political staff didn’t or perhaps had other goals.
In Alberta, BC, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, similar programs were handled by government staff, not political staff, the report said.
Explanations provided by the minister’s staff as to why they chose to fund certain groups were inaccurate, the auditor general’s report found.
Slamming and locking the barn door, Piccini has said he will follow all of the auditor general’s recommendations in the future.
Insiders at Queen’s Park are speculating that Piccini may be forced out or quietly dropped during the next cabinet shuffle.
I’ve asked the ministry and the minister’s office how many grants came to groups in Northumberland county; will let you know if I get an answer, especially if it turns out someone here trained themself.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.
Thanks for keeping us up to date on things happening in Northumberland and beyond. Great article!
Wow, he explicitly says he knows better than the public servants and should be able to intervene to pursue party political goals - it's impressive to not be competent enough to know that you can't say that out loud.