Ontario to cut rule that allowed Conservative MPPs to expense Toronto hotel stays

At Queen’s Park Wednesday, more members of the Ford government, who live in or near Toronto, have been revealed to have billed thousands of dollars to the taxpayer for stays in Toronto hotels.

Now the Ford government says it will get rid of the rule that allowed them to expense the rooms.

Publicly available expense records show the scope of hotel expenses.

Since 2023, MPP for Brampton East Hardeep Grewal billed over $27,000.

MPP for Mississauga-Streetsville and Associate Minister of Small Business Nina Tangri billed almost $19,000.

MPP for Brampton Centre and Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Charmaine Williams billed more than $15,000.

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That’s on top of Cabinet Minister Stan Cho’s $16,000 in hotel expenses, which was revealed Tuesday, but it’s not just these four.

“Over the past few years these GTA MPPs have run up the bill charging taxpayers upwards of $120,000,” said Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles.

Stiles says twenty Toronto-area Ford MPPs racked up $121,409 in questionable hotel charges since 2023.

Her party launched a website Wednesday, respectfortaxpayers.ca, detailing the spending.

MPPs who live less than 50 kilometers from the legislature are prohibited from expensing hotel stays, unless there are so called “special circumstances” like during an exceptional snowstorm.

“The Premier needs to ensure that every penny is paid back for this flippant abuse of taxpayer dollars,” said Stiles.

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Minister Cho says he will repay the money, and Ford Government House Leader Steve Clark says he will get rid of the rule allowing paid-for-hotel stays during “special circumstances,” but opposition parties say that’s not enough

“This motion is really an attempt to bury something that the taxpayers absolutely have a right to know about,” said Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman.

They say an explanation is needed.

“I want to see every expense that was incurred by a government member,” said Bowman. “I want to know the date and the purpose, and did it conform with the spirit of the rules as they are laid out.”

Stiles thinks this incident demonstrates a pattern from the premier and his MPPs.

“They’re only paying this back because they got caught, just like Doug Ford turned around and reversed course on his private jet because he got caught,” said Stiles.

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