Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is taking steps to alter guidelines that allow MPPs who live in and near Toronto to expense hotel stays in the city after it was reported that members of his caucus had billed tens of thousands of dollars in recent years.
Tourism Minister Stan Cho said this week he would repay more than $16,000 in taxpayer-funded hotel expenses he claimed in Toronto since 2023, after facing criticism from opposition parties. Cho billed taxpayers $16,203 for hotel accommodations in the city despite living less than six kilometres from Queen’s Park. He represents the north Toronto riding of Willowdale.
Publicly available expense records indicate Cho was not the only caucus member using the legislature’s special circumstances rule with a frequency that the opposition argues warrants further scrutiny.
Government House Leader Steve Clark sent a letter to Speaker Donna Skelly on July 15 pledging change. Clark has promised to present a motion to opposition MPPs on a committee that regulates members of the legislature, requesting their agreement to remove the current “special circumstances” expense.
The current special circumstances rule allows MPPs who live within 50 kilometres of Queen’s Park to expense hotel accommodations in the event of a major snowstorm or other severe weather events that disrupt traffic and local transportation. The expenses are then approved by non-partisan officials within the legislature.
MPP Expenses
The proposed policy changes follow recent media reports indicating that multiple MPPs from the Toronto area have charged in excess of $120,000 for hotel stays in the last three years.
Brampton East MPP Hardeep Grewal expensed more than $27,000 in Toronto hotel stays since 2023, according to official records, while Associate Minister of Small Business Nina Tangri, who represents Mississauga-Streetsville, billed nearly $19,000.
Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Charmaine Williams, who represents Brampton Centre, submitted more than $15,000 in special circumstance bills.
All three PC MPPs, together with Cho, submitted the highest billing figures in the latest fiscal year, which concluded in March.
Neither Grewal, Tangri, nor Williams were available for comment.
Cho has promised to reimburse the entire sum he has billed to the legislature.
“While these expenses meet the criteria for special circumstances as set out by the Legislative Guide for Member’s expenses, I will be personally reimbursing the legislature for the amount of the expenses incurred,” he said in a brief media statement on July 14.
A spokesperson for Ford’s office said in a statement that the legislature is responsible for approving MPP expenses and those “that did not meet the intent of the rules will be reimbursed to the legislature in full.”
The premier’s office did not indicate whether it will announce when the funds are returned and did not respond to the criticisms raised by the opposition.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles has said she will “absolutely” support the proposed change to the special-expense rules, but said the PC MPPs are at fault rather than the policy.
Her party has launched a website—respectfortaxpayers.ca—detailing all of the spending of all PC MPPs within a 50 kilometre radius of Queen’s Park.
Stiles told a July 15 press conference that the Ford government owes the people of Ontario two things: “a full refund and a whole lot of answers.”
“The premier needs to ensure that every penny is paid back for this flippant abuse of taxpayer dollars, and he needs to come out of hiding and explain how this happened and what he’s going to do to make sure it never happens again,” she said.
Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman said her party will also support Clark’s request to end the special circumstances practice, but added that all of the claims in question to be not only reimbursed but subjected to an independent review.
“I’m a chartered accountant by background,” she told reporters during a press scrum. “I would say that this kind of policy is rife for abuse because it is not specific enough about when it is allowed to be used.”
