OPP launches probe into company that received millions from Ontario

The Ontario Province Police has launched an investigation into a company that received more than $40-million from the provincial government, including from a controversial skills training fund.

The force confirmed Monday that its anti-rackets branch has launched an investigation into the company, an online counselling platform called Get A-Head, also known as Keel Digital Solutions.

“The OPP Anti-Rackets Branch has completed its review and will be proceeding with an investigation. At this time, we cannot release any details or speculate on how long the investigation will take,” OPP spokeswoman Gosia Puzio said in an e-mail on Monday.

Premier Doug Ford’s government last month said it had referred “suspicious activity” to the police related to transfer payments to the company, after a forensic audit of the organization.

The OPP previously said it was contacted on Nov. 6 by the Treasury Board Secretariat’s forensic investigations team, which was concerned about transfer payments to Get A-Head from the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security.

The business offers an “AI-driven” virtual mental-health counselling platform for students and police officers. It was acquired by a company called Keel Digital Solutions in 2022.

Keel has also received millions from the province’s marquee $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund, which is overseen by Labour Minister David Piccini. His connections to the company have come under scrutiny.

The fund, which hands out cash to unions, companies and non-profits for training programs, has been under a microscope after Ontario Auditor-General Shelley Spence concluded in a report in October that the distribution of $1.3-billion in grants from it was “not fair, transparent or accountable.”

Jay Fischbach, chief operating officer of Keel Digital Solutions, said in a statement the company remains steadfast that it has complied with all laws and contract obligations.

“We welcome the OPP and will be completely transparent and cooperative. 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,” he said.

Ahad Bandealy, Keel Digital Solutions’ chief digital officer, told The Globe and Mail last month that the company had not been informed of the OPP referral nor told of any “red flags” that emerged during the audit process.

The company has accused the government of trying to make it a “scapegoat” to deflect from controversy over the province’s worker training fund.

Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ford’s office, declined to comment on Monday and referred The Globe to the government’s previous statement.

Ms. Jensen said last month that a routine audit in 2023 raised concerns about the company, leading to a comprehensive forensic audit.

The government said it referred the matter to the OPP within 24 hours of receiving the results.

Mr. Ford’s chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, also sent an e-mail last month to all Ontario government chiefs of staff and other employees working in the Premier’s office warning them not to have any contact with the company.

According to government records, Get A-Head received $32.74-million in funding from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities from 2020 to 2025, as well as $1.85-million from the Ministry of Health. It also was awarded $7.5-million in grants approved by Mr. Piccini’s office from the skills fund, starting with $2.72-million in 2024.

An initial audit conducted in 2023 would have been related to previous funding from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

Get A-Head had only successfully applied for skills funding between August and December of 2023.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles on Monday repeated her calls for Mr. Ford to fire Mr. Piccini for what she called “gross mismanagement” of the Skills Development Fund.

“Doug Ford’s Minister of Favours has spent seven weeks dodging responsibility and throwing out excuses,” Ms. Stiles said in an e-mailed statement. “Now, we’ve got yet another police investigation connected to this scandal-ridden government.”

She also cited links between Mr. Piccini and Keel, first reported by Queen’s Park news website The Trillium.

Mr. Piccini attended the Paris wedding last fall of the company’s lobbyist, Michael Rudderham.

In 2023, Mr. Piccini, who was not Labour Minister at the time, sat in a rinkside seat at a Toronto Maple Leafs game with Peter Zakarow, a director of Keel, The Trillium reported.

Mr. Zakarow said in an e-mail to The Globe last month that he was an independent board member and has never spoken to the minister or anyone else in the government about the company.

Mr. Piccini has said he paid his own way for both the game and the wedding.

Liberal MPP John Fraser, his party’s leader in the legislature, said Keel should not have received any more government money once it was flagged for the forensic audit.

“We have a government that doesn’t think that anybody’s noticing what they’re doing.”

With a report from Jeff Gray in Toronto