A Brampton MPP allegedly placed taxpayer-funded advertisements in his father’s newspaper
Hardeep Grewal, who represents Brampton East, said he should have sought permission from Ontario’s integrity commissioner first
Amid ongoing scrutiny over expenses filed by MPP Stan Cho, who resigned as Ontario’s minister of tourism, culture and gaming last week, NDP leader Marit Stiles has filed a complaint with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner regarding another Conservative MPP.
The complaint points out that Hardeep Grewal, who represents Brampton East, placed advertisements in a community newspaper run by his father.
“MPP Grewal just got caught spending nearly $30,000 on luxury downtown Toronto hotel stays, and now, potentially breaking ethics rules to enrich an immediate family member with tax dollars,” Stiles said in a statement.
“I have written to the integrity commissioner, requesting her to examine MPP Grewal’s spending habits, because there is a clear pattern of ads placed in a local paper owned by his father. If MPP Grewal’s family members are benefiting from tax dollars, the people deserve to know.”
Stiles’ complaint follows claims that Grewal also billed thousands in hotel stays despite residing within commuting distance from Queen’s Park.
In a statement yesterday, Grewal said, “the Punjabi Post is a popular ethnic news outlet in Brampton—a community with a large Punjabi speaking population. Political parties of all stripes have advertised with the Punjabi Post,” but that he should have sought permission from the integrity commissioner himself before placing advertisements.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
