Ontario skills fund gave $1-million to company whose CEO was fined by OSC

The Ontario government gave $1-million from its controversial Skills Development Fund to a company headed by an entrepreneur who had been penalized by the province’s securities regulator for issuing misleading press releases.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has repeatedly defended the Skills Development Fund, saying it is retraining workers and creating jobs. But government documents show some of the money awarded to the company, Connex Telecommunications Inc., was for staff to test a call-centre chatbot, prompting opposition critics to question why taxpayers are subsidizing a system to replace human workers.