scandal

Ontario Liberals are calling for the Ford government to restore student assistance to private career colleges that are not at the centre of a scandal involving the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

All grants were frozen after the Liberals raised concern about the amount of money directed to a small handful of learning institutions.

The Liberals say 95% of all OSAP funding issued in 2025 was issued to the private career colleges.

An audit is being done, but Interim leader John Fraser feels the OPP should be involved.

“I understand the need for an audit, but I think it has been rather obvious,” says Fraser.

“There’s a lot of smoke here. There’s a lot of money, and there’s very clear evidence of unusual activity they’ve known about for three years. I’m just surprised that they haven’t started an investigation in the last two years. That’s the shocking thing.”

The Liberals also point to one career college with campuses across the province, they say, that has close political connections to the PC party and received one-fifth of all OSAP money.

Ottawa-area MPP Tyler Watt says government inspectors even visited its Ottawa campus in 2025 and identified in court documents that it could not demonstrate that OSAP-funded students were participating in programs.

He says by freezing OSAP to all private career colleges, the government is unfairly punishing students who attend colleges following the rules.

“These students are sacrificing so much to be here,” says Watt.

“Some drive two hours a day to get to class, while others are precariously housed. The government broke OSAP, blamed students for it, and now those same students are the ones suffering.”

Fraser puts the blame solely on the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

“Nolan Quinn must resign or be fired,” says Fraser.

“Only in Ontario could you fail on this scale hundreds of millions of dollars. One school in one year, three locations, getting one-fifth of all of the OSAP funding. Only in Ontario could you fail that big, still keep your job, and then thousands and thousands of other people who just want a better future lose that.”