dominated<\/a> the first week of the fall legislative sitting. Opposition parties called for the resignation of Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn, while Premier Doug Ford has defended the decision by placing the blame on a group of \u201ccrooks\u201d and \u201cfraudsters\u201d he says misused the system.<\/p>\nThe second week of the sitting appears no different.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Liberal MPP Lee Fairclough put forward a motion at the Standing Committee on Public Accounts asking that the auditor general\u2019s office \u201cundertake a special value for money audit of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) spending at private career colleges from the 2020-21 academic year to the 2025-26 academic year, including the oversight of the program by the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, given the magnitude of funds that appears to have been misused, the signal of potential fraud, and the repeated warnings to the government and minister since 2023 by Career College of Ontario that this was happening, I would anticipate that every member of this committee can see why it is so completely justified to prioritize this program for an auditor general review,\u201d Fairclough argued.<\/p>\n
Liberal MPP Tyler Watt added there is added value in having the auditor general look at the file earlier, rather than later, noting that the KPMG audit will likely not be made public.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know we’re never going to see those results,\u201d Watt said. \u201cThe auditor general will release those findings to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
The motion was voted down by the Progressive Conservative majority.<\/p>\n
PC MPP Jess Dixon said that the auditor general has indicated she will consider the file in future audit planning, and that directing a special audit now amid a police referral and third-party audit \u201crisks duplicating work and complicating those processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking with reporters after the vote, Fairclough said the public needs to know what happened with the \u201cmismanagement\u201d of the OSAP program, adding that \u201cwe have no idea\u201d if work conducted by the third-party auditor has been initiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it most certainly would put the microscope on the government,\u201d Fairclough said of an audit.<\/p>\n
In the house Monday, opposition MPPs peppered the government with questions about OSAP, with Quinn consistent in putting the blame on \u201cbad actors\u201d in the career college system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have uncovered here over the last two years is predatory and nothing short of criminal,\u201d said Quinn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not flow another taxpayer dollar until I have the confidence in the (OSAP) system and confidence that our bad actors have been held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister has said the legislation is coming this fall to strengthen oversight and introduce guardrails against misuse of OSAP. The legislation will also stop students taking online-only courses from being eligible for OSAP.<\/p>\n
Quinn has not provided an indication of when OSAP loans would be reinstated or when students can expect to get more information on other low-interest, third-party loan options \u2014 something the province had promised to provide.<\/p>\n
Later in the afternoon, NDP Leader Marit Stiles used one of her party\u2019s opposition days to call on the Ford government to \u201cprovide a plan, within 14 days, for immediate relief for students who have been left to bear the consequences of this government’s failure of oversight of private career colleges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stiles didn\u2019t specify what, exactly, should be in the government\u2019s plan to provide relief for students, only telling reporters that students should be at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m giving them two weeks to do this, and we are sitting down with those students and we are talking to them about how to solve this problem. But the government has to be actually leading this right now, and they are just letting them go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A vote on the NDP motion was rejected by the PC majority, 38 votes to 68.<\/p>\n
A recent report<\/a> from The Canadian Press found that more than half of the thousands of OSAP applicants at two career colleges last year came from a single IP address.<\/p>\nFurther data obtained by The Trillium via a freedom of information request showed that about half of the overall OSAP funding for students at private colleges \u2014 including grants and loans \u2014 went to those studying at just 10 of the province\u2019s 177 listed institutions.<\/p>\n
These 10 colleges also had the largest number of students getting OSAP, representing around 46 per cent of total individuals from career colleges who received grants and loans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second week in a row, the province\u2019s handling of OSAP dominated the legislature
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