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“We’ve trained up over 700,000 people with multiple skills. We’ve given them the tools — literally given them the tools — to have a career and have a trade that they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Ford’s comments Tuesday came as Auditor General Shelley Spence is examining the Progressive Conservatives’ signature employee training scheme.

“This audit plans to examine the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s processes and systems for managing the Skills Development Fund Training Stream,” Spence’s office said in a statement.

At the same time, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has accused Ford of “diverting training money” from struggling community colleges to private companies.

“It’s a system that operates in the dark. Taxpayers — who fund these programs — have almost no reliable information about how much that money is spent, what projects are funded to do, and what the results of those programs are,” OPSEU warned in a released last week.

But the public service union’s intervention has exposed a schism in the labour movement.

LiUNA, the powerful private-sector construction union that Ford has enlisted to help with skills training,  last week.

“The Ontario Federation of Labour and OPSEU have attacked the Skill Development Fund that has funded numerous LiUNA training centres,” LiUNA international vice-president Joseph Mancinelli said last Thursday.

Mancinelli noted “the training, apprentice and mentorship programs ... have empowered opportunities for marginalized communities, students, women in trades, youth at risk, second chance career paths and our Indigenous partners.”

The union leader also accused the OFL and OPSEU of trying “to create a conflict between private sector training centres and colleges.”

“This is nothing but bad politics attacking the Ford government,” said Mancinelli.

“LiUNA is leaving and will no longer participate with the OFL. We will return when the OFL starts treating private sector unions fairly as opposed to favouring public sector unions to the detriment of LiUNA and its hundred thousand members,” he said.

But the opposition New Democrats have expressed concern about the Tories using the Skills Development Fund to favour their political allies.

“Ontarians deserve to know their public dollars are going towards strengthening our communities,” said NDP MPP Jamie West (Sudbury).

“While sectors across the province face closures and layoffs, the secret handout of millions looks less like a workforce strategy and more like a political slush fund for the premier’s friends,” said West.

Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman (Don Valley West) said “this government has shown consistently a lack of accountability” over the years.

“If you’re doing everything right, then you will welcome the audit,” said Bowman of Spence’s probe.

“We’ll see what the results show.”

With files from Moira Welsh