Ontario tourism minister to repay $16K in Toronto hotel expenses

An Ontario cabinet minister who represents a north Toronto riding promised Tuesday to reimburse more than $16,000 in Toronto hotel expenses.

Stan Cho, who serves as the minister of tourism, culture and gaming and represents the riding of Willowdale, has billed so-called special circumstances requiring hotel accommodation in the city on multiple occasions since 2023.

The expenses were first reported by Global News and prompted criticism from opposition parties, who say it is an abuse of taxpayer dollars.

“The minister can get from Willowdale to Queen’s Park without even having to change subway lines,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a statement.

“He has a taxpayer-funded car and driver. There’s no reason he would need $16,000 worth of luxury downtown hotel stays.”

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said within Premier Doug Ford’s government a culture of extravagant spending has been “normalized.”

“The public purse is not the Progressive Conservatives’ personal piggy bank,” he wrote in a statement. “Every single dollar spent belongs to Ontario taxpayers, but they all seem to think it’s for private jets and fancy hotels.”

Cho said Tuesday in a statement that his expenses meet the criteria for special circumstances under the legislature’s rules for members, but he will personally reimburse the full amount.

His office did not provide an explanation for why he incurred the expenses, but the legislature’s website gives a snowstorm as one example of acceptable special circumstances for members who live within 50 kilometres of Queen’s Park.

Public expense disclosures show Cho expensing about $1,400 in Toronto accommodations in 2023-24, about $3,000 the next year, and about $11,700 in 2025-26.

By Allison Jones