{"id":280244,"date":"2025-11-13T11:11:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/280244\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:11:18","slug":"skills-development-fund-audit-of-recipient-given-to-opp-ontario-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/280244\/","title":{"rendered":"Skills Development Fund audit of recipient given to OPP: Ontario government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario\u2019s government has sent a forensic audit of one of the grant recipients from a controversial multi-billion dollar jobs fund to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the province confirmed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The audit of Keel Digital Solutions, which received millions through the province\u2019s Skills Development Fund (SDF)<\/a>, was sparked in 2023 but only completed last week, and the company founder told CTV News he was blindsided by the development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cooperated fully and transparently with the Province\u2019s forensic audit, supplying all requested documentation, including incorporation records and financial statements,\u201d said Ahad Bandealy, Keel\u2019s Chief Digital Officer, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have serious concerns about the process, which showed persistent misunderstandings of corporate vs. not-for-profit structures and misinterpretation of tax rules (e.g., input tax credits and relevant federal programs). Throughout the review, we were repeatedly told no irregularities or \u2018red flags\u2019 had been identified that would preclude continuing the government\u2019s partnership with Keel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The grants to Keel Digital Solutions and its subsidiary Get-A-Head were intended to support the company\u2019s goals of creating a digital platform for mental health care for college and university students. The company also had a contract with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.<\/p>\n

The larger goal of the $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund is to retrain workers amid the economic headwinds of the pandemic and U.S. tariffs. However, an auditor general repor<\/a>t found political staff were choosing grant recipients against the recommendations of bureaucrats more than half the time.<\/p>\n

The grants to Keel were put under the microscope after it emerged that David Piccini, before he was Minister of Labour, had been photographed at rink-side Maple Leafs seats with Keel director Peter Zakarow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Piccini, Zakarow at Leafs game Jan. 17, 2023 MPP David Piccini is seen with Peter Zakarow at a Toronto Maple Leafs game on January 17, 2023. (Maple Leafs\/Instagram) <\/p>\n

Piccini said he paid for the tickets but CTV News reported the seats were season tickets belonging to the Zakarow family.<\/p>\n

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

Piccini himself told NewsTalk1010 that he had personally intervened to approve the grant to Keel.<\/p>\n

The Government of Ontario said in a statement, \u201cIn 2023, a routine audit raised concerns about an external service provider. That process identified irregularities that led to a comprehensive forensic audit of the organization in question.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results of the audit, received last week, recommended that the matter be referred to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). Within 24 hours of receiving this report, the referral was made. All payments associated with this provider are currently under review, and further actions will be taken based on that outcome,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Bandealy said that Keel\u2019s contract was awarded fairly.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeel was awarded its initial contract with MCU through an open, competitive procurement in 2020-21,\u201d Bandealy said. \u201cThe contract has been renewed several times by the province, recognizing significant growth in participating post-secondary institutions and demand from students served by the platform. To date, our platform has enabled more than 200,000 mental-health sessions for post-secondary students across Ontario, expanding timely access to support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable the Ministry appears to have shared information publicly before providing us with the audit\u2019s findings. This has required us to respond to incomplete and potentially misleading information through media channels rather than directly with the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bandealy added that the company has not been informed about any investigation by the OPP, but they plan to fully cooperate \u201cif one is initiated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident an objective review will confirm our integrity and the quality of our compliance practices. Keel Digital Solutions remains committed to innovation, transparency, and improving access to mental-health care for students across Ontario,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The OPP have not yet responded to questions from CTV News.<\/p>\n

Zakarow, the board member seen at the hockey game, said he doesn\u2019t have any involvement in Keel\u2019s day to day business, and didn\u2019t bring up the company with Piccini.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an independent Board member, I\u2019ve been very impressed with Keel\u2019s commitment to governance and I can only echo the team\u2019s surprise of any mention of a potential investigation,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also been wanting to make clear that I have never spoken to Minister Piccini or anyone else in government about Keel – that\u2019s not my role as an independent Board member,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s government has sent a forensic audit of one of the grant recipients from a controversial multi-billion dollar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-280244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280244","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=280244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}