TORONTO — Progressive Conservatives at Queen’s Park voted down an Ontario Liberal motion Monday that would have required the government to formally request a value-for-money audit by the Auditor General into the Ontario Student Assistance Program at private career colleges.The motion, moved by Liberal MPP Lucille Collard and supported by colleges critic Tyler Watt, sought an independent examination of spending and oversight. Liberals argued the ongoing KPMG review is insufficient because the firm works for the government, while the Auditor General reports to taxpayers and would make findings public. Government members said they would vote against it, calling the request duplicative of the KPMG work and a potential complication for the Ontario Provincial Police review of the same issues. They defeated the motion on their majority.The province has paused OSAP payments across private post-secondary institutions, barring several schools from the program (some until at least 2030), and referring concerns to the OPP after a KPMG review identified serious integrity issues..Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn has said the government acted to protect taxpayer dollars after preliminary KPMG findings, notified the Auditor General, and referred the matter to the OPP. The government intends to bring legislation to exclude predominantly online programs at career colleges from OSAP eligibility. Opposition parties have criticized the response as late and overly broad, arguing legitimate students are paying the price for failures of oversight that warnings had flagged for years.Watt said Conservatives announced they would reject the motion before hearing the debate. “So much for transparency and accountability. We deserve answers,” he wrote. The Ontario Liberal Party called the outcome a cover-up.The government says KPMG’s review and the police referral are the right paths and that any misuse of OSAP is unacceptable. No detailed public findings from the KPMG review have been released.
