{"id":218669,"date":"2025-10-17T01:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218669\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T01:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T01:50:10","slug":"ontario-labour-minister-denies-skills-development-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/218669\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario labour minister denies Skills Development Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Woodward speaks with Ontario labour minister David Piccini about his close ties to those who received millions in grants from the Skills Development Fund. <\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s labour minister is defending upwards of $100 million in grants from a controversial government fund to unions or industry organizations that supported the governing Progressive Conservative Party in the last election\u2014and denying that the money\u2019s effect is to reward those organizations for their political support.<\/p>\n

David Piccini made those comments when CTV News caught up with him at a Brampton golf course where he was to speak to an industry safety group, in a seven-minute exchange where the minister also denied any impropriety around how millions of the $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund went to people he socializes with.<\/p>\n

\"\"David Piccini CTV News’ Jon Woodward catches up with Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit ironic that in the past people criticized the PCs about not having the support of labour. And now that we do, (they\u2019re) trying to find any reason,\u201d he said when asked if the fund had a political purpose beyond training workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the bottom line is, and the truth is, that when we\u2019re supporting unions on the job site, we\u2019re supporting programs all over Ontario that are giving people real skills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE FULL CTV NEWS INTERVIEW WITH ONTARIO\u2019S LABOUR MINISTER BELOW:<\/p>\n

EXTENDED: Ont. Labour Minister questioned over ties to companies seeking government grants David Piccini speaks with Jon Woodward regarding allegations he socialized with those who stood to benefit from millions in government grants from his ministry. <\/p>\n

Piccini and his ministry have been answering questions about the process to award grants from the Skills Development Fund since CTV News first reported in September that upwards of $11 million went to a Toronto restaurant chain despite bureaucrats saying the application was rated low and submitted late.<\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s auditor general found those exceptions were made more than half the time by political staff who overrode non-partisan staff to award almost $750 million in grants in a way that was \u201cnot fair, transparent or accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s NDP have complained to the province\u2019s integrity commissioner about Piccini\u2019s attendance at a wedding in Paris of a lobbyist working for one company that got some $7.5 million in grants; Piccini was also photographed in rinkside seats with one of that company\u2019s directors while he was environment minister.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, CTV News found more than $100 million in payouts from the Ministry of Labour to unions and industry organizations that endorsed the Ford government in this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

\"\"Skills Development Fund <\/p>\n

That list included construction union LiUNA, Merit OpenShop, and the Pipe Trades Council. <\/p>\n

In September, LiUNA withdrew from the Ontario Federation of Labour\u2014a major rift in the province\u2019s labour movement\u2014in response to criticism about the Skills Development Fund coming from public sector unions pointing out the money could be better spent in colleges in crisis.<\/p>\n

At the time, international vice-president Joseph Mancinelli described the criticism as \u201cnothing but bad politics attacking the Ford government.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, LiUNA spokesperson Victoria Mancinelli, his daughter, told CTV News in a statement that the union\u2019s endorsement \u201cwas not transactional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo suggest otherwise is nothing more than a smear campaign from the sidelines by those who claim to stand with workers but, in reality, abandoned them long ago. It was rank-and-file union members that helped lead the Progressive Conservatives to three consecutive majorities\u2026 Today, skilled workers are reflected directly in policy that invests in potential prosperity, giving them the respect and dignity they deserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"LiUNA Local 3000 statement <\/p>\n

Public account records show LiUNA or its locals receiving at least $27 million from Ontario\u2019s labour ministry. <\/p>\n

When asked about the Paris wedding and the hockey game, Piccini said, \u201cI have a personal life. We all have personal lives, make friends through our profession, through work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Maple Leafs game Ontario Labour Minister is pictured cheering during a Maple Leafs game. <\/p>\n

While a list of recipients has been posted publicly by the ministry, the list does not have attached to it the full grant amounts, nor does it show how each potential project was ranked by bureaucrats.<\/p>\n

When asked, \u201cWhy the secrecy? Why not be public about where the money went?\u201d Piccini responded, \u201cThe Skills Development Fund is changing lives\u2026 and I\u2019m proud to invest in life-changing training and support for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Woodward speaks with Ontario labour minister David Piccini about his close ties to those who received millions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[712,43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-218669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}