LILLEY: Ontario’s opposition is letting Doug Ford off the hook

Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated that the Ontario Student Assistance Program was defrauded by bad actors, noting that while government grants rely on trust and honesty, the system was exploited.

The government is facing criticism regarding its handling of OSAP payments at private career colleges. Critics argue the government failed to properly oversee billions of dollars in payments and created conditions that allowed for exploitation. According to CityNews, Career Colleges Ontario raised concerns about suspicious activity in meetings with the government in 2023, and in January 2025, the organization wrote to the ministry regarding significant anomalies in OSAP usage at 10 specific schools.

The Academy of Learning is currently fighting a government decision to deny its locations OSAP eligibility. The Academy denies any wrongdoing, noting that the government's allegations have not been proven in court and that the schools have implemented various corrective actions in response to ministry concerns.

Brief written by urgent.news from Global News, CityNews — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.