Ford government looks to axe rule that let Toronto MPPs expense Toronto hotel stays

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is looking to eliminate a rule that lets members of provincial parliament who live in and near Toronto expense hotel stays in the city, after multiple members of his caucus billed thousands of dollars.

Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho came under fire Tuesday for billing taxpayers for more than $16,000 in Toronto hotel expenses since 2023 despite representing the north Toronto riding of Willowdale.

But publicly available expense records show he was far from the only caucus member using the so-called special circumstances rule at a frequency the opposition says raises a lot of questions.

Hardeep Grewal, who represents Brampton East, had more than $27,000 in Toronto hotel expenses since 2023. Nina Tangri, the associate minister of small business who represents Mississauga-Streetsville, billed nearly $19,000. Charmaine Williams, the associate minister of women’s social and economic opportunity who represents Brampton Centre, expensed more than $15,000.

All three of those Progressive Conservatives, as well as Cho, billed the highest amounts in the most recent fiscal year, which ended in March.

Cho has promised to reimburse the public purse for his full amount, and government house leader Steve Clark wrote Wednesday to the Speaker, informing her he intends to eliminate the rule that let members who live within 50 kilometres of Queen’s Park expense Toronto hotel stays in extenuating circumstances.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the policy itself was not the problem, it’s that some of the government members were treating it as less of an exception and more of a rule.

“The policy was for extenuating circumstances, right, emergencies like a snowstorm,” she said.

“He can change the policy all he wants, but it’s not going to change the fact that these members just simply saw that policy, they understood what it was for – all of us do as MPPs – and they chose to abuse it.”

Stiles called on all of them to repay the money and to explain the reasons behind their billings.

A spokesperson for Ford’s office said any expense “that did not meet the intent of the rules will be reimbursed to the legislature in full.”

Liberal finance critic Stephanie Bowman said her party will support Clark’s request to end the special circumstances practice, but also wants all of the claims in question to be not only reimbursed but independently reviewed.

“I’m a chartered accountant by background,” she said.

“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. So while it is getting approved today because … it is within this broad policy, what we are saying is that it seems like it may have been misused and that the spirit of the policy was not being followed.”