Ford Government Looked Away From Obvious OSAP Scandal While Academy of Learning Courted PC Insiders

QUEEN'S PARK, ON — Ontario Liberal Interim Leader John Fraser and Tyler Watt, MPP for Nepean and Critic for Colleges and Universities, today showed how the OSAP scandal at Academy of Learning played out in plain sight while the Ford government looked away.

“If your bank knew someone was stealing from your account and let it go on for years, would you ever trust that bank with your money again?” said Watt. “That's what Doug Ford's government did with OSAP. That's not leadership. At best, it's negligence. At worst, it's a cover-up.”

In 2024-25, students at just three Academy of Learning campuses received more than $219 million in OSAP grants.

“You didn't need a tip or an inspector to see this,” Watt added. “For years, the internet was awash with agents advertising OSAP as free money. The government had what no one else did: the warnings, the inspectors and the numbers. So how did this go unaddressed for so long?”

Last Fall, two months after government inspectors went into Academy of Learning, cabinet minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and MPP Amarjot Sandhu celebrated a campus opening. Two co-founders of Opulence Education Group, which owns Academy of Learning, donated more than $8,000 to the PC Party since 2024. One gave the maximum allowed to the PC riding association in Sandhu's riding. Academy of Learning then hired two lobbyists who previously worked together in the Premier's Office.

“This government was inspecting Academy of Learning with one hand and cutting its ribbon with the other,” said Watt.

“When students needed this government, it wasn't there. When this government needed someone to blame, it found students,” said Fraser. “Cutting everyone off is easier than admitting you were never protecting Ontario. Now, Doug Ford is protecting his minister who gets to keep his job while thousands of students lose their chance at a better one. That's not right.”

The Ontario Liberals are calling on the government to:

• Restore OSAP for students at career colleges that are not under investigation;
• Warn students about misleading recruiters and get those sites taken down;
• Answer for what it knew, starting with Minister Nolan Quinn's resignation.

Academy of Learning denies the allegations and is challenging the government's decision in court.