Ontario Premier Doug Ford has blamed a “couple of bad apples” in the private career college system for innocent students being denied payments under the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), amid mounting pressure on the provincial government to reverse the decision.In early October, the province barred students at all 242 private career colleges from accessing OSAP as it investigated what it described as “serious concerns” raised by the federal government, advocacy groups and its own audits and inspections.Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Nolan Quinn said the government had launched targeted inspections amid growing concerns over the use of OSAP. It subsequently commissioned auditing firm KPMG to conduct a broader review.Preliminary findings flagged concerns over common ownership structures, links between private career colleges and immigration recruitment services, inadequate student verification processes, and unusually high concentrations of OSAP applications from the same geographical areas.The province has also notified the Auditor General. Seven career colleges, reportedly largely owned and operated by immigration agents from Punjab, received about $385 million in OSAP grants during the 2024-25 academic year.The government alleged that some private career colleges were co-owned by immigration services and recruitment firms, could not validate students’ enrolment or provide adequate verification of their participation in courses, and had an unusually high concentration of OSAP applications from particular geographical locations.Ford said government grants were based on trust and the expectation that recipients would act honestly, but alleged that the system had been defrauded by “bad actors”.“There’s some good operators here, but [they] got caught with [the] bad apples, a bunch of fraudsters,” Ford said in the legislature, according to a Global News report.Responding to persistent questioning from interim Liberal leader John Fraser, who said students had been “approved, enrolled and abandoned” by the government, Ford said criminal investigations, charges and convictions would follow.“We’ve called in the OPP in and I hope to God these bad actors are going to jail,” Ford said, according to the report.The province referred the findings of an interim KPMG report to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), but the force has yet to confirm whether a criminal investigation will be opened.Meanwhile, opposition MPPs have called on Ford to remove Quinn from office after the government disclosed that it had received warnings about the use of OSAP in 2025 from multiple parties, including the federal government.The controversy also escalated in October after the Punjab Police cyber cell registered a case over 35 social media posts, including posts linked to Punjabi and Canadian journalists and immigration consultants in Canada and Punjab, that were critical of the alleged misappropriation of OSAP funds.According to the FIR, the case was registered against unidentified persons for allegedly posting unverified content targeting a Mohali-based immigration consultant who runs educational institutions and has substantial interests in real estate.The FIR triggered an angry reaction from journalists and immigration consultants, who demanded an in-depth probe into the matter.“Today, I asked Doug Ford to fix OSAP, honour funding commitments to students who have been cut off and fire his Minister of Colleges and Universities over the billion-dollar OSAP fraud scandal,” Tyler Watt, a member of the provincial Parliament, said in a social media post.Fraser, the MPP for Ottawa South, also criticised the government’s handling of the matter.“Approved. Enrolled. Abandoned. The government’s negligent management of $1B of OSAP is unbelievable. Warned multiple times for more than three years of suspicious activity, they did nothing.“Now they are in a rush and are cutting off good people at the knees,” Fraser said in a post on X.In February, the Ford government reduced the maximum share of OSAP funding that students could receive as grants from 85 per cent to 25 per cent, forcing them to take on more debt. Students have been turning to food banks, working full-time while studying, and reducing their course loads. Some have already left their programmes.