The criteria used by the Ford government to hand out millions of dollars through its controversial Skills Development Fund remain a secret as a new Star analysis shows 17 unions and industry groups that endorsed the Progressive Conservatives in the February election received $237 million.

There is no transparency on how the various labour and trade organizations were graded despite the $2.5-billion program coming under intense scrutiny following a scathing Oct. 1 auditor general’s report on its structure and the potential influence of lobbyists on embattled Labour Minister David Piccini and his predecessor.

The government has refused to release the scoring system used to rate hundreds of funding applications, leaving unanswered questions about how applicants were ranked and whether the p

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