Donors to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party have funded thousands of dollars in meals, flights and hotel room costs for Willowdale MPP Stan Cho — a former senior minister in Premier Doug Ford’s cabinet who resigned amid a spending scandal at Queen’s Park.
Detailed disclosures from Cho’s constituency office show, between 2023 and 2026, 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.
The revelation comes less than a week after Cho was forced to pay the Ontario Legislature back more than $16,000 in hotel room expenses that he billed to taxpayers over three years.
Cho, who lives just six kilometres away from Queen’s Park, claimed the expenses under a “special circumstance” designation.
The former minister resigned from cabinet on Friday morning, admitting that charging the public for the hotels was a “mistake.”
“Looking back now, I made a mistake. I am taking full responsibility,” Cho said in a statement. “I did not stop to ask how it would look to a person in my riding working a double shift.”
The latest expenses, however, 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.
“What you see when you look at the riding association expenses is a whole bunch of expenses that seem to be used to support a lavish lifestyle by Stan Cho,” Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji told Global News.
“It paints the picture of someone who really enjoys a particularly lavish lifestyle and is essentially using different credit cards to be able to expense these things.”
All of Cho’s expenses were certified by the riding’s Chief Financial Officer between 2023 and 2025 and submitted to Elections Ontario’s compliance division.
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Global News asked Cho’s constituency office, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and the premier’s office to outline the necessity of the expenses, but did not receive a response.
Meals
Over the course of three years, Cho submitted nearly $100,000 in food and beverage expenses to his riding association, all of which were reimbursed using donor cash and taxpayer-funded subsidies.
While Cho claimed all the expenses were for “meetings hosted,” many took place outside his Willowdale riding, including in upscale restaurants in downtown Toronto and other establishments scattered around the GTA and beyond.
Dozens of receipts indicate Cho was billing the riding association for meals at Sotto Sotto in Yorkville, Barberian’s Steak House near Yonge Street, The Score on King Street, the Fishman Lobster Clubhouse in Scarborough and the ONE Restaurant in the swanky Hazelton Hotel.
At one restaurant alone, Sher-E-Punjab on Danforth Avenue, Cho expensed more than $16,500 over three years for “food and beverages,” claiming he was hosting meetings at the restaurant.
Another $10,500 was spent at Nome Izakaya, which bills itself as “Toronto’s premier Japanese tapas bar.”
Cho also spent more than $9,000 on food, beverages, catering and room rentals at the members-only Albany Club over the three-year time frame and $1,621 at various steak houses in Toronto.
Other expenses include:
- $6,055.12 at Moxies
- $2,724.11 at Mapo Korean
- $2,050.96 at The Keg
While some of the expenses, including LBCO and Beer Store purchases, might have been used for larger employee and volunteer appreciation events, dozens of meals charged to the riding were within the $200 to $300 range, suggesting a small number of diners.
Trips
Cho’s riding expenses also show multiple flights and hotel trips that took the MPP out of the constituency, with little explanation about how the travel benefited residents in Willowdale.
Between 2023 and 2025, Cho billed the constituency more than $6,100 for airfare on Porter Airlines and Air Canada.
While the expense logs don’t offer details on the destinations, Cho also submitted $12,700 in hotel expenses, which shed some light on where the MPP had travelled.
Over the three-year time frame, Cho travelled to Ottawa, Banff, Calgary and Montreal and charged his riding to stay in upscale hotels such as the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the Hilton hotel, the Fairmont Pallister and the Rimrock resort hotel.
“There are all sorts of peculiarities that seem to suggest that many of these expenses didn’t serve the purpose of representing his constituents,” Shamji said, “And instead served the purpose of allowing him to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.”
Cho expensed $318.66 to stay at the Clock Tower Inn, a historic hotel in Strathroy, Ont., roughly a three-hour drive away from his north Toronto riding.
In 2025, Cho also billed the riding $1,500 to rent a vehicle from “Top Limo,” which specializes in luxury SUVs, stretch limousines and party buses.
Entertainment
Expense records also show MPP Cho was billing the riding association to attend events at various sporting venues in Toronto — a bill that totalled $13,388 over four years.
Much of that money was spent at the Rogers Centre, where Cho claimed he hosted meetings that required food and beverage expenses.
In 2022, Cho submitted $1,138 in expenses for food at the Rogers Centre during a Toronto Blue Jays game — part of those expenses were incurred during the provincial election campaign period.
In 2024, the price tag escalated dramatically. Cho, once again, hosted a meeting at the Rogers Centre during a Toronto Blue Jays game and charged his constituency association $6,970.67.
During the 2025 snap election campaign, the MPP charged the constituency $3,000 for a “suite rental” at the Rogers Centre, along with food and beverages.
It’s unclear what event Cho would have attended at the Rogers Centre that required a suite during that time period.
Disclosures also show Cho charged the riding association for food and beverages at the Scotiabank Arena and with Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, totalling more than $1,600.
Global News asked the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party whether supporters are told their donations could be used to fund meal, travel, hospitality and entertainment expenses of the MPPs.
The PC Party did not respond to the question.
Shameful..You are supposed to represent your constituents and have their best interest at heart..This is a betrayal of public trust. Leaders are held to a higher standard and are required to model integrity.
I’m appalled by the relaxed nature of the comments. Typical Canadians not wanting to take a stand for effective change.
And I spent 3 years in homeless shelter because I couldn’t afford to rent a place, nor secure a full time permanent job to pay rent. Let’s take a look at everyone’s expenses!
Eat my azz out canaduh!
Everything is okay when you are a liberal. We need a true conservative leader and party, not pretenders.
This article puts the cart before the horse.
Yes, nearly $100,000 in riding association meals and hospitality expenses over three years deserves scrutiny. Accountability matters. But so does context.
Willowdale is a large, diverse Toronto riding. Building support there takes years of community involvement, fundraising, meetings, volunteer appreciation, and constituent outreach. The article highlights the expense totals but provides very little context about the events, who attended them, or how those expenses related to riding activities. Instead, it invites readers to assume the worst.
What strikes me is the timing. Following the controversy surrounding the Ford government’s private jet purchase and the scrutiny over the policy permitting overnight hotel reimbursements for Toronto-area MPPs during late legislative sittings, the focus has now shifted almost entirely to Stan Cho.
To me, that raises a much bigger question about leadership. It’s one thing to demand accountability, but leadership also means taking responsibility for the policies your government creates and standing behind your team while ensuring fairness and due process.
If the Premier cannot take accountability for his own government’s decisions and stand behind members of his cabinet when controversy arises, how can Ontarians have confidence that he will do the same for the province?
That’s the story I’d rather see examined.
How is this surprising? Ford wanted his own plane.
We are getting fleeced , ripped off ,scammed and f**cked right over around every corner. HAD ENOUGH YET ?
The fact that the riding association covered the costs is cause alone for an investigation
Now audit every sitting MP from every single party.
Period.
How or why are these ridiculous expenditures being approved? Especially over a four year period?
Standard operating procedure for Conservatives, provincial and federally speaking. Ontario Conservatives have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, scandals, and now this type of behaviour. Time to vote them out so bad they lose all their seats.
Marc Carney just billed tax payers a whopping $160,000 in food costs for a 1 week trip….
Did global cover that?
Where’s the outrage?
Fiscal responsible Conservative. Trump, now here. Power abuser.
At least he stepped down. There are politicians down south who thinks being a politician is a life long position and power to abuse.
GET FORD CONSERVATIVES OUT NOW!!!
While conservatives demonize “Welfare Queens” they enjoy Champagne and caviar with their friends. Conservative years are expensive years.
This is gross entitlement. The fact that he is using not only association funds but also taxpayer funds for this is obscene!
Fatso thought he could have a 92 million jet.
It’s funny how he acts surprised at his gravy plane minions doing the same stuff.
Everyone should stop making contributions. If its that blatant and most of it approved and the PC “party” did not want to respond we know that there must be others doing the same.
He says he takes “full responsibility” then lets see how long it takes him to pay it back?
Bots are trying hard to deflect the scandel to federal
Thank God he did not spend $160k on food to travel around the world looking for investors in Canadian investors ..
“I made a mistake”.
Adding 1 + 1 and getting a sum other than 2 is a mistake.
This wasn’t a mistake. It was fraud.