TORONTO — A mental health company being sued by the Ontario government over alleged fraudulent misrepresentation has filed a statement of defence and a counterclaim against the province, alleging it has damaged the company’s reputation.

Get A-Head Inc. and its parent company Keel Digital Solutions deny the government’s allegations and are in turn seeking damages of $98 million, including for payments the government withheld and for what they call loss of corporate value.

Ontario’s lawsuit filed earlier this year alleges Get A-Head inflated the number of counselling sessions it reported delivering through a student mental health program, resulting in overpayments of millions of dollars, and provided false quarterly reports.

The Ontario Provincial Police are also investigating after the government referred the results of an audit on Keel’s funding from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to police.

The company says in its defence filed in court this week that the audit process was secretive and “deeply flawed,” and when the government announced the police referral due to what it called “inconsistencies” found through the audit, the company says that was done with the intent to harm its reputation.

Keel Digital Solutions was closely scrutinized during the most recent 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.

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.

Critics have questioned why the Ministry of Labour gave Keel $7.5 million in skills development funding for a first responder mental health program even after an audit of their student funding had raised concerns within a different ministry.

The company said in its statement of defence that it is not even able to artificially inflate the sessions it provides, and the government was well aware of how it would be reporting its metrics.

None of the allegations from either side have been tested in court.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press