An advocacy group whose CEO worked for the previous minister of labour of Ontario when he launched the Ford government’s Skills Development Fund recently received a $1.8 million grant from the program.
The Skills Development Fund (SDF) has recently become a sore spot for the Ford government. A few weeks ago, the province’s auditor general released a report on the program, saying the government’s distribution of tax dollars through it hasn’t been “fair, transparent or accountable.”
The Trillium has also recently reported many examples of SDF recipients that have connections to the Progressive Conservatives — including both labour ministers who with their staff have awarded the funds — and of hundreds of millions of dollars going to groups led by PC donors, or to clients of lobbyists with close ties to the Ford government.
The Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA), an advocacy group for more highway and road construction, received its $1.8 million grant in the latest round of the SDF, which Labour Minister David Piccini and his office selected the recipients of. The ORBA’s CEO, Walid Abou-Hamde, worked for years in the office of Piccini’s predecessor, former labour minister Monte McNaughton. Members of the ORBA’s board of directors have also, altogether, donated almost $100,000 to PC party causes over the last decade.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the ORBA said that while “ORBA can’t speak to the Ontario government’s selection process, (it) has carefully followed all rules and procedures in its application and maintains all required records for its use of the funds.”
“Walid Abou-Hamde has never spoken to Minister Piccini or any former colleagues in government regarding ORBA’s SDF application or grant,” Steven Crombie, senior director of public affairs for the group, wrote in his statement. “Abou-Hamde received clear direction from the Ontario integrity commissioner when he left government and continues to follow that direction to this day. Further, he’s maintained full compliance with all requirements of the Lobbyist Registration Act and the Lobbyist Commissioners office since his exit.”
McNaughton, the former labour minister, launched the Skills Development Fund in 2021. Abou-Hamde worked in McNaughton’s office at the time, as he did for the bulk of Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives’ first elected mandate.
Around when the PCs were re-elected in 2022, Abou-Hamde left his position as the labour minister’s director of stakeholder relations to join Skilled Trades Ontario, a provincial agency that reports to the Ministry of Labour, as its vice-president of corporate affairs and partnerships.
About a year later, Abou-Hamde became the executive director of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA). Ford’s cabinet appointed him to Skills Trades Ontario’s board around the same time as well, which he served on for about a year. He became CEO of the ORBA a few months later, in the fall of 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In the fall of 2023, McNaughton resigned from Ford’s cabinet and as an MPP to work in the private sector. The premier replaced him with David Piccini, who has been the labour minister ever since.
There’s been five rounds of Skills Development Fund grants selected by the labour minister’s office since 2021, including the most recent two by Piccini and his staff. In total, the ministry has paid out about $1.3 billion of tax dollars in over 1,000 SDF grants, to hundreds of different recipients to support their worker-training and -upskilling programs.
The ORBA got $1.8 million from the fifth round of SDF grants to “provide 200 participants with training to enhance workforce readiness and upskilling for careers in road construction and infrastructure, followed by paid job placements,” according to a government news release.
On Thursday, Abou-Hamde was representing the ORBA at a Ford government news conference, where he joined the ministers of housing, transportation, environment and the attorney general, to answer questions about a new government bill.
When The Trillium tried to ask him about the SDF funding the ORBA had received and whether his connections with the government or his organization’s leadership group’s political donations helped in securing its grant, Housing Minister Rob Flack interjected, saying he didn’t think the question was “appropriate.”
Abou-Hamde ultimately did respond, just not directly to the question. He praised the legislation the Ford government introduced and said the Skills Development Fund has “played an essential role in allowing organizations like ours to train the next generation.”
A staffer of Flack’s abruptly ended the news conference after.
—With files from Jack Hauen and Jessica Smith Cross