EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
A political fundraiser for Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini has been called off as he weathers an avalanche of criticism over the Skills Development Fund controversy.
Before Tuesday, the Progressive Conservative party had advertised on its website that, for a $1,000 ticket, supporters could attend a Wednesday evening event in Toronto with Piccini. Proceeds from the fundraiser were set to benefit the Northumberland-Peterborough South PC Association, Piccini’s local riding association.
It’s now been called off. Piccini told reporters on Tuesday that it was because he had a “personal commitment.”
Reached by phone around the same time, however, his riding association president said he had “no idea” why the fundraiser was canned.
A couple of other PC-connected sources said they believed its cancellation was linked to pressure Piccini and the government have faced in recent days from the controversy around its Skills Development Fund (SDF).
The grant program — which the province’s auditor general recently described in a report as “not fair, transparent or accountable” — has been the dominant topic at Queen’s Park since MPPs returned earlier this week for the fall sitting.
In both question periods so far, opposition MPPs have targeted Piccini over the SDF, which, for the two years he’s been labour minister, he’s overseen and, with his office’s staff, picked the recipients of. Through the program, hundreds of millions of tax dollars have flown to numerous groups led by PC donors who recently endorsed the party or have other ties to Piccini or the PCs.
On Tuesday, multiple NDP and Liberal MPPs questioned Piccini about The Trillium’s recent analysis of the most recent round of the SDF, which found that most of the grants and funding from the $345 million total had gone to PC donor-led organizations.
In response, Piccini defended the program meant to fund worker-training projects, saying they’re “going to change the next generation,” and by referring to donations that SDF recipients have also made to opposition parties.
The now-kiboshed fundraiser also came up in question period on Tuesday, with Liberal MPP John Fraser joking that the $1,000-a-ticket event was to open “round six of the Skills Development Fund.” The premier took that question, alleging Fraser was involved in the previous Liberal government’s political fundraising controversy, as the pair continued to bicker over during their exchange.
By the time Tuesday’s question period began, the PC party had taken its post about Piccini’s riding association’s Wednesday night fundraiser from its website.
A Trillium reporter reached Gord Robinson, president of the Northumberland-Peterborough South PC Association, by phone early in the afternoon. After saying he had “no idea” why the fundraiser was called off, Robinson asked, “How’d you get my number?”
After being told that his number is online and was found there, Robinson proceeded to ask, “You didn’t get it through John Mutton, did you?” The call did not last much longer.
Mutton is a former Clarington, Ont., mayor and development consultant, who has recently drawn a line between Piccini and another Ford government controversy.
Mutton is also known as “Mr. X,” a pseudonym given to him by Ontario’s former integrity commissioner, which he’s since embraced. In a podcast a couple of weeks ago, Mutton claimed that he first caught wind of what became the Ford government’s scandal-sunk plan to remove land from the Greenbelt from Piccini at a fundraiser for his riding association, when he was still environment minister.
A spokesperson for Piccini denied the claim, which Mutton also made earlier in a sworn deposition with the previous integrity commissioner, as a copy of the transcript obtained by The Trillium shows.
“The assertions referenced are categorically untrue and patently false,” Piccini’s spokesperson said.