Tyler Watt
Ontario Liberal Party
Ontario Liberal MPP and the party's colleges and universities critic. On Oct. 5, 2026, he asked the Auditor General for a value-for-money audit of OSAP spending at private career colleges.
Connected scandals
Career Colleges Ontario began warning the province about "indicators consistent with suspicious activity" in OSAP applications in January 2023, yet students at three Academy of Learning franchise campuses alone received more than $219 million in OSAP grants in 2024-25. The province cut off five career colleges only in May 2026, after using OSAP's "unsustainable" cost to cut grants for every student.
As Liberal colleges and universities critic, Watt asked Auditor General Shelley Spence on Oct. 5, 2026 for a value-for-money audit of OSAP spending at private career colleges, including whether the government properly oversaw it. "This has all the makings of Doug Ford's next billion-dollar scandal," he said, adding that the government "took a hatchet to a problem that required a scalpel" (CBC/CP; CHCH). The AG's office said 2026 audits are underway and it would consider the request for future audit planning.
Sources
News Report
- Liberals ask auditor general to investigate OSAP spending at private career colleges — CBC News (The Canadian Press)
- Liberals ask Ontario auditor to probe spending, oversight of OSAP at career colleges — CHCH News (The Canadian Press)
- Ontario Liberals seek OSAP audit as students struggle with rising costs — CHCH News