SCOOP: Watt, Hsu quietly pushed for late and donor-linked SDF bids

THE LEDE

SCOOP — Two Liberal MPPs privately wrote to Labour Minister David Piccini in support of projects in their ridings seeking a slice of the Ford government’s $2.5-billion worker-training fund.

One pushed for a meeting to get a late applicant in the door, while another went to bat for a donor-linked project.

For background: The Skills Development Fund (SDF) has spiraled into a scandal over who’s getting the money — and why. Earlier this month, Shelley Spence, the province’s auditor, found that the fund “was not fair, transparent or accountable.” Even though less than half of successful applicants were graded “high” by the public servants who reviewed them, most — 54 per cent — landed in the “lower” category, with support from lobbyists.

“We identified 64 low- and medium- ranked applications that had hired registered lobbyists,” the report read.

Piccini later said he personally intervened to pick some of the “lower-scoring” recipients. Two separate analyses by The Trillium and The Star found that donor-linked groups received most of the cash, with $237 million collected by pro-Progressive Conservative unions and industry groups.

The twist: Opposition parties say it’s a “slush fund” — and are calling on Piccini to step down. Yet behind the scenes, correspondence shows some MPPs have privately lobbied for projects in their own ridings to receive cash — including one who asked for a meeting to squeeze in a late applicant and another who supported a project connected to a past donor.

Make no mistake: Such asks are far from rare, but in this case, Progressive Conservatives are crying hypocrisy — saying it “speaks volumes” about how the Opposition is playing in public versus in private.