Ontario Tourism Minister Stan Cho speaks to the media in February alongside Premier Doug Ford. The Toronto-area MPP promised Tuesday to reimburse more than $16,000 in hotel expenses.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is moving to change expense rules for politicians after facing a wave of criticism when it was revealed that Toronto-area Progressive Conservative MPPs billed tens of thousands for hotel stays in recent years.
The hotel expenses, including from a cabinet minister who represents a riding in the north of Toronto, have sparked fresh accusations of entitlement for the third-term government. The opposition has framed the controversy as the latest example of frivolous spending following the government’s foiled attempt this spring to purchase a $28.9-million private jet for Mr. Ford’s travel, which was abandoned after public outcry.
In an attempt to rein in the backlash, Government House Leader Steve Clark sent a letter to Speaker Donna Skelly on Wednesday, saying he would bring forward a motion to opposition MPPs on a committee that governs members of the legislature asking for agreement to eliminate the current “special circumstances” expense.
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That expense allows MPPs who live within 50 kilometres of Queen’s Park to bill taxpayers for hotel stays under exceptional or unusual circumstances, such as a snowstorm or night sittings.
The expenses are approved by non-partisan officials within the legislature itself.
The government has been under fire in recent days after reporting by Global News and online outlet The Trillium discovered that more than a dozen Toronto-area MPPs have billed more than $100,000 in the past three years to stay in hotels.
That includes a Toronto cabinet minister and three MPPs – including two associate ministers – from Peel Region, who have billed more than $77,000 combined in the past three years.
No Toronto-area NDP or Liberals MPPs billed for hotels during that time.
Hardeep Grewal, a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Transportation, billed for more than $27,000 in Toronto accommodation since 2023, according to public disclosures. Mr. Grewal represents the riding of Brampton East, northwest of Toronto.
Nina Tangri, associate minister of small business, who represents Mississauga-Streetsville, west of Toronto, billed almost $19,000 since 2023. Brampton Centre MPP Charmaine Williams, who is associate minister of women’s social and economic opportunity, expensed $15,865.
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Neither Mr. Grewal, Ms. Tangri nor Ms. Williams replied to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho, who represents Willowdale in the north of Toronto and lives several kilometres from Queen’s Park, billed for more than $16,000 in Toronto hotels since 2023, including more than $11,000 last year alone. This total also includes more than $6,000 in December, 2025.
Mr. Cho, who has a car and driver as part of his cabinet role, has promised to pay the money back. He did not respond to a request for comment from The Globe and Mail.
The Premier’s Office said that the legislature is responsible for approving MPP expenses and those that did not meet the “spirit of the rules” will be reimbursed in full. The government did not respond to questions about whether it will report when the money is returned and did not comment on opposition criticisms.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles on Wednesday called on the PC MPPs to repay the full costs.
She said her party will agree to change the special-expense rules but laid blame on the PC MPPs themselves, not the policy.
“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.
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She also called on the PC members to provide details of their hotel expenses and proof that they fully refunded them.
In a letter sent to Mr. Clark later Wednesday, Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman also said her party supports eliminating the special expenses. But she said that the problem was not the provision, but that government members may have abused it.
“Eliminating it without accountability does not resolve this matter; it buries it,” she wrote.
Ms. Bowman said the government’s changes don’t go far enough and said she would propose her own motion to require full reimbursement unless an independent review confirms a claim is valid. She also asked for a public disclosure of the dates, locations and stated reasons for each claim, and for an independent review of the expenses dating back to 2022.