Ontario’s Auditor-General says the province’s selection process for $1.3-billion in grants to subsidize the hiring and retraining of workers was “not fair, transparent or accountable,” with the Labour Minister’s office approving hundreds of millions of dollars for unions, employers and other organizations that had earned low scores on their applications.

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The funding is allocated to eligible employers, unions and other organizations to train or retrain workers with new skills.

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The report found that more than half the applications selected by the Labour Minister’s office, resulting in $742-million in grants, were ranked by ministry bureaucrats as “poor,” “low” or “medium” when measured against the program’s objectives and selection criteria, which include an applicant’s “organizational capacity” and “delivery plan.”

The Auditor-General also said 670 applications that ranked “high” were not selected for funding.

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The report also said similar programs in other provinces, such as Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, do not involve a minister’s office in choosing which applicants to fund, leaving the decisions to non-political bureaucrats.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-skills-development-fund-auditor-general-report/