TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday that KPMG has been asked to prioritize low-risk private career colleges so they can resume Ontario Student Assistance Program payments as quickly as possible, while the broader pause and the Ontario Provincial Police investigation continue.Ford told reporters the province is working with KPMG, the OPP, and the Auditor General’s office. “We’re going to catch these criminals, because that’s all they are, a bunch of criminals. And I hope they go to jail,” he said. “If you want to scam the taxpayers of Ontario, we’re going to catch you.”He said the goal is to get low-risk schools “back up and moving as quickly as possible.” At the same time, he ruled out any step that would jeopardize the OPP investigation or the KPMG work. “What I can’t do, I can’t jeopardize the OPP investigation because we want to recover this money.”Ford distinguished private career colleges from public institutions. He said the province has put $6.4 billion into the public college and university system and that “all you have to do is talk to any CEO of any public college or university. They’re thanking us.” He described the private sector as the problem and said the system needs reform so that funding goes to people training for jobs in areas such as STEM, nuclear energy, mining, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence..Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser said the government should know the risks already and release funds to low-risk schools immediately. He pointed to the Academy of Learning, which he said had 8,500 applications from one location, and estimated the potential loss in the hundreds of millions.“We’re talking $1 billion. I’m confident saying that it may be more than that,” Fraser said. He argued the Auditor General should audit the ministry itself under section 17, and that the freeze is creating hardship for legitimate students, including paramedics and others who cannot pay rent or groceries while they wait.The pause on OSAP payments to private post-secondary institutions has been in place since early October after preliminary findings raised integrity concerns. Ford has previously said the government will not release further money until it has confidence the recipients are legitimate.Opposition parties have argued the blanket freeze is punishing legitimate students and institutions while the government investigates a smaller number of bad actors. Ford said the ministry is already working to separate low-risk cases and that resources are being thrown at the problem.The comments are the latest government explanation of how long the freeze will last and which schools might see payments resume while the investigation continues.
