TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the funding his government gave to a company now under police investigation after the province identified “irregularities.”

The government asked the Ontario Provincial Police last month to look at the results of an audit on Keel Digital Solutions and the police said Monday that they have now launched an investigation.

The company has been the subject of testy debate at the legislature over the past several weeks, as a recipient of the province’s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund.

Labour Minister David Piccini’s office gave the company about $7.5 million over two rounds of funding even though bureaucrats gave the application a low ranking, and opposition critics have cried foul over Piccini’s personal connection to Keel’s lobbyist, which was reported by various media outlets.

Keel had also been receiving funding for years from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities for student mental health services and the government says a routine audit connected to that funding raised concerns in 2023, so a forensic audit was conducted.

Critics say the company should not still have been receiving funding while under forensic audit for a different source of government funding, but Ford says today that it’s not appropriate to cut off funding until an audit has concluded.

The company says it strongly believes it has complied with all laws and contractual obligations and looks forward to an apology from the government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2025.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press