Ford government sues skills development fund recipient for alleged fraud

The Ford government is suing an Ontario company which received millions from the province, including some from the controversial skills development fund, accusing it of breaching its contract and providing false and misleading reports.

The company, Keel Digital Solutions, received millions from both the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, as well as the Ministry of Labour, through its subsidiary Get A-Head for counselling, which the government alleged was billed in a fraudulent manner.

The province is seeking $25.9 million from Keel Digital Solutions, which was also subject to a forensic audit now being investigated by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Over roughly three years, between 2022 and 2025, the government alleged Keel Digital Solutions “provided false and misleading quarterly reports of their corporate performance measures,” which resulted in the government paying out its contracts.

“The false reports caused the Crown to pay the corporate defendants millions of dollars that they otherwise would not have been paid,” alleged the claim, which was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday.

Keel Digital Solutions promised a counterclaim would be filed, and its COO said in an email the government’s lawsuit was “deeply flawed, built on misstatements and outright inaccuracies.”

The government’s 43-page statement of claim alleges Keel Digital Solutions owes the Ministry of Colleges and Universities $22.3 million, along with $3.2 million to the Ministry of Labour for breaches of contract.

It calls for $100,000 in punitive damages from the company’s directors, named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The claim said Keel represented estimated expenses as actual expenses and failed to report unspent funds, rebates, tax credits or interest earned, actions the government said its contract stipulated it must take.

The government further accused the company and its directors of trying to hide the alleged fraud.

“The Crown pleads that the Individual Defendants directed, facilitated, and then tried to cover-up the Corporate Defendants’ False Reports given to (Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security),” the claim said. “The Individual Defendants also took steps to obstruct the Crown’s subsequent attempts to audit and investigate the False Reports.”

It said the claims for funds the company made included “exaggerated, false, incomplete and misleading reporting of Performance Measures and financials in the False Reports.”

The government said first-class flights, international office space and fine dining costs were hidden “in generic line items and presented as eligible project costs.”

The claims have not been proven in court.

Jay Fischbach, COO at Keel Digital Solutions and a defendant in the lawsuit, said the claim was inaccurate and denied the allegations.

“Keel Digital has never been involved in any fraudulent activity, and we fully expect the government of Ontario to be compelled to retract its claims, apologize, and answer for the recklessness and malice that drove this case,” he said in a statement.

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“We caution the media to be careful with their reporting, an accusation is not proof of anything.”

He said the company would file a counterclaim.

Keel Digital Solutions was closely scrutinized during the fall sitting of the legislature as one of the recipients of the Ministry of Labour’s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund, a program the auditor general has found was not fair or transparent and doled out money to applicants ranked low by bureaucrats.

While the majority of the funds referenced in the lawsuit come through a separate contract with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, $2.7 million relates to a skills development fund agreement.

Labour Minister David Piccini came under sustained fire from opposition parties calling for his resignation, particularly since media reports said one of Keel’s lobbyists is a close friend of Piccini’s.

That heat only increased after the government announced it had referred the results of an audit on Keel’s funding from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to the Ontario Provincial Police, citing concerns dating back to 2023.

Keel’s funding came under particular scrutiny after it was reported by The Trillium that Piccini had attended the wedding of a lobbyist it had hired.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles accused Piccini of disregarding advice in order to select Keel.

“Doug Ford’s Minister of Labour bragged about hand-picking Keel Digital Solutions to receive public money over other, higher-scoring applications,” she said in a statement.

“Then, his government triggered a forensic audit of that same company, leading to an OPP investigation, before finally suing them for fraud.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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