Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into minister
Labour Minister David Piccini faces integrity commissioner investigation over Skills Development Fund disbursements
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
The Skills Development Fund gained notoriety after the province's auditor general found last year that the way the government had been selecting successful applications and disbursing money from the $2.5-billion fund was not fair, transparent or accountable. (Bobby Hristova/CBC )
Photograph: CBC News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Ontario is allocating $10 million to six programs training people in skilled trades, including construction, automotive service, and electrical work.
- The Skills Development Fund, worth $2.5 billion, was criticised by the auditor general last year for lacking fairness, transparency, and accountability in its selection process.
- Integrity commissioner Cathryn Motherwell is investigating Labour Minister David Piccini over allegations he breached ethics rules in distributing the funding.
- No right-rated outlet reported on the announcement or the ethics investigation, according to the digests and reports available.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 12 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 14 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
65/100
Craft
75/100
Hype
15/100
14 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 12 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Ontario announced on 18 August 2026 that it would spend $10 million on six programs to train people in skilled trades. The funding comes from the province’s Skills Development Fund, which has allocated $2.5 billion since its inception. The programs include YMCA-led construction training, automotive service courses, and electrical trades instruction for young people, as reported by CBC News and CTV News.
The fund has faced scrutiny since the province’s auditor general found last year that its selection and disbursement processes were not fair, transparent, or accountable. The government said it had made changes for this sixth round of funding, including requiring applicants to disclose the use of registered lobbyists. Labour Minister David Piccini stated the fund would help build careers and strengthen the workforce for Ontario’s infrastructure projects.
Integrity commissioner Cathryn Motherwell is investigating allegations that Piccini breached ethics rules in distributing the funding. The opposition parties raised the complaints, which the commissioner is reviewing. The investigation was reported by CBC News and CTV News.
What the coverage left out
None of the digests or reports from right-rated outlets mentioned the $10 million funding announcement or the ethics investigation into Labour Minister David Piccini. The omission covers both the funding details and the integrity commissioner’s probe.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 18 Aug 2026, 20:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
10 rated outlets
- The six left-rated digests and reports led on the $10 million funding announcement and the ethics investigation into Labour Minister David Piccini. CBC News and CTV News, the only outlets with full reports, both included the auditor general’s criticism of the fund’s past selection process. CBC News also listed the specific programs receiving funding, such as YMCA-led construction training and automotive service courses.
- CBC News used the phrase "gained notoriety" to describe the fund’s reputation after the auditor general’s report. It quoted Piccini saying the fund would help people "build rewarding careers" and strengthen the workforce. The outlet also noted the government’s changes to the selection process, including the requirement to disclose lobbyist involvement.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The three centre-rated digests and reports also led on the $10 million funding announcement. CTV News, the only centre-rated outlet with a full report, included the auditor general’s findings and the integrity commissioner’s investigation. It reported the government’s changes to the selection process, such as requiring applicants to disclose lobbyist use.
- CTV News described the fund as having "gained notoriety" after the auditor general’s report. It quoted Piccini’s statement that the fund would help build careers and strengthen the workforce. The outlet did not list the specific programs receiving funding, unlike CBC News.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
14 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
10- Ontario to spend $10M on new skills development training programs (opens CBC News in a new tab)
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens haltonhillstoday.ca in a new tab)
haltonhillstoday.ca — is haltonhillstoday.ca biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens Oakville News in a new tab)
Oakville News — is Oakville News biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens Orillia Matters in a new tab)
Orillia Matters — is Orillia Matters biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens Bay Today in a new tab)
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens Sudbury in a new tab)
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens SooToday.com in a new tab)
SooToday.com — is SooToday.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens The Toronto Star in a new tab)
The Toronto Star — is The Toronto Star biased? Our profile of this outlet
Show 2 more
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens The Record in a new tab)
The Record — is The Record biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding (opens The Hamilton Spectator in a new tab)
The Hamilton Spectator — is The Hamilton Spectator biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
2Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
2- Ontario Investing More Than $9.8 Million to Protect and Train Workers in Major Canadian Industries - Today's Northumberland - Your Source For What's Happening Locally and Beyond (opens todaysnorthumberland.ca in a new tab)
todaysnorthumberland.ca — is todaysnorthumberland.ca biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Ontario announces $10M in new skills development funding – 105.9 The Region (opens 1059theregion.com in a new tab)
1059theregion.com — is 1059theregion.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into…?
- Of the 12 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 83% are rated left, 17% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 14. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into… left or right?
- The story itself is neither. What can be counted is who has covered it, and 83% of the 12 rated outlets on it are rated left — so far this is a story carried mostly by the left. Coverage is still arriving and that can change, which is why the figure is dated rather than fixed.
- Is the coverage of Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into… biased?
- Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into minister is one event reported by 14 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Ontario spends $10m on skilled trades training amid ethics probe into…?
- 14 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What is the Skills Development Fund?
- The Skills Development Fund is a $2.5 billion Ontario government program that provides funding for training in skilled trades. It has faced criticism for lacking fairness and transparency in its selection process, according to the province’s auditor general. The latest round allocates $10 million to six training programs.
- Why is Labour Minister David Piccini under investigation?
- Integrity commissioner Cathryn Motherwell is investigating allegations that David Piccini breached ethics rules in distributing funding from the Skills Development Fund. The opposition parties raised the complaints, which the commissioner is reviewing, as reported by CBC News and CTV News.
- Which programs are receiving the latest $10 million in funding?
- The $10 million is being split among six programs, including YMCA-led construction training, automotive service courses, and electrical trades instruction for young people. These details were reported by CBC News in its full account of the announcement.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
