In addition to $16,000 in hotel expenses, Stan Cho allegedly spent thousands more on lobster and a limousine
The (now former) minister of tourism, culture and gaming resigned from cabinet last week but remains the MPP for Willowdale
Ontario’s (now former) Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister, Stan Cho, announced his resignation from cabinet last week, over reports that he’d expensed $16,000 in Toronto hotel stays despite living a 20-minute drive from Queen’s Park. (As NDP leader Marit Stiles said in a statement, “the minister can get from Willowdale to Queen’s Park without even having to change subway lines.”)
In his resignation letter, Cho called the hotel expenses “a mistake” and said he’d repaid the amount billed to taxpayers.
But continued reporting from Global News points out that Cho allegedly billed the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party for thousands in addition.
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“The MPP billed the office for pricey dinners at steakhouses and lobster restaurants, airline tickets, hotel stays at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and even the cost of renting a vehicle from a limousine company,” Global’s story said.
Here’s how the outlet explained the claims, based on disclosures from Cho’s constituency office:
“The latest expenses raise new questions about Cho’s donor and taxpayer-funded lifestyle and whether the Ford government and Progressive Conservative Party view them as out of bounds. While riding associations typically generate revenue through donations to the party, constituencies also receive a per-vote subsidy, which results in thousands of dollars in income from Elections Ontario, which is ultimately public money.”
While speaking to reporters about the wildfires in northwestern Ontario today, Premier Doug Ford did not respond to specific questions about Cho, who remains the MPP for Willowdale, or other Conservative politicians who expensed just as much or more.
Per Global’s Colin D’Mello, the premier simply said, “everything is unacceptable.”
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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.
