Stan Cho has resigned over spending $16,000 on hotels 20 minutes from his house
It turns out a lot of Conservative politicians have been charging taxpayers for unnecessary hotel stays
Following backlash over having expensed $16,000 in Toronto hotel stays despite residing in the city, Ontario’s Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho has announced his resignation.
“Looking back now, I made a mistake. I am taking full responsibility, as I do not want to be a distraction from our plan to grow the economy, keep families safe, and build this province,” Cho wrote in a resignation letter, which Premier Doug Ford said he had accepted.
Cho, a Conservative MPP whose hotel expenses occurred between 2023 and 2026, resigned from cabinet but will continue to represent the riding of Willowdale. His home in the area is reportedly a 20-minute drive from Queen’s Park, or an easy transit trip.
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“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.
In his resignation letter, Cho said he reimbursed the province for his hotel expenses.
Global News revealed this week that Cho is not the only Progressive Conservative MPP who has been expensing hotels in Toronto despite living within commuting distance of Queen’s Park.
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation, Hardeep Grewal, of Brampton East, has billed $19,827.73.
Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity, Charmaine Williams, who represents Brampton Centre, billed $16,151.70.
Associate Minister of Small Business, Nina Tangri, who represents Mississauga-Streetsville, billed $13,568.12.
The provincial government is now considering the possibility of eliminating the special circumstances rule which allows ministers to bill for hotels. But some say the scandal extends even further.
“There’s more to the story than just Stan Cho’s hotel rooms. There are more ministers and members, and there are more scandals,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said in a statement. “The sense of entitlement starts at the top with the premier buying himself a luxury private jet, and it just trickles on down.”
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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.
