The Ontario Progressive Conservative caucus was given the green light to book hotel rooms in downtown Toronto at the taxpayer’s expense whenever night sittings were scheduled, Global News has learned, despite Premier Doug Ford’s repeated public assertion that the expenses were “unacceptable.”
For more than a week, Progressive Conservative MPPs have been facing scrutiny for charging downtown Toronto hotel stays to the taxpayer instead of commuting to and from Queen’s Park.
Former tourism minister Stan Cho resigned after claiming $16,000 over three years despite living six km away from the Ontario Legislature, while three Peel Region MPPs billed $50,000 between them over two years.
“They’re all paying it back, and it’s unacceptable,” Premier Doug Ford fumed at a news conference on Monday. “If you guys think for a second I’m happy about this, you’re wrong. It’s unacceptable. They’re all paying it back. As simple as that.”
But behind the scenes, it was the government that told its MPPs to make use of the hotel perk when legislative sessions went late.
One email, sent in late 2025 by the Progressive Conservative whip’s office, highlighted the need to be near Queen’s Park for night sittings, pointing to hotels as an option for MPPs who didn’t get funds for a home in Toronto.
“For those Members with no Toronto Accommodation allowance, you may choose to book a hotel room downtown for the two days of night sittings,” the email, obtained by Global News, read.
Sources explained that PC MPPs needed to maintain their majority presence in the legislature at all times or risk being outvoted by members of the opposition.
The official government direction appears to have paved the way for MPPs in the Ford government to bill taxpayers thousands of dollars in hotel rooms — an expense the premier later suggested crossed a line.
“I apologize for it even happening in the first place. It’s very frustrating … to say the least,” Ford said. “We’re going to make sure that we put a microscope on this and it won’t happen again,”
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Asked for comment on this story, the premier’s office said, “The premier has been clear, all MPPs will reimburse the legislature in full.”
The hotel expense categories are controlled by the Board of Internal Economy — a legislative body composed of members from all official parties along with the Speaker, which oversees financial affairs at Queen’s Park.
The government first raised the issue of hotel expenses at the board in May 2024, moving a motion to update the allowance.
Around the same time, some MPPs within the Progressive Conservative caucus, who live within the 50-km radius, began skipping the commute home and staying in Toronto hotels.
Then, in November 2025, Education Minister Paul Calandra and House Leader Steve Clark raised the issue a second time at the Board of Internal Economy.
“Moved by Mr. Clark, seconded by Mr. Calandra, that Members who are ineligible for accommodations … be reimbursed for their actual cost of accommodation during days that the Assembly is authorized to sit until midnight,” the board’s documents read.
The motion was carried, allowing MPPs to use the “special circumstance“ designation to book a hotel room during a night sitting — when MPPs debate legislation until midnight to pass laws within a certain window.
The regularity of those sittings is controlled by the government when they look to move legislation through quickly.
One month later, Minister Cho submitted more than $6,000 in hotel expenses — all of which were approved by the legislature.
While Ford offered taxpayers contrition for his government’s use of the benefit, the apology, along with the insistence that MPPs will repay every penny, also appears to be a change from what the premier told his caucus behind closed doors last week.
Shortly after Global News broke the story, Ford held a virtual meeting with his caucus and struck an angry tone over the expenses and pleaded with MPPs to stop harming the party.
But the issue of repaying the expenses appears to have been nuanced, with no specific discussion about the dollar amount or whether MPPs faced an obligation to return the money.
Multiple sources said Ford suggested only those who had claimed expenses for hotels that didn’t fit the spirit of the policy would be required to repay them.
MPPs took that to mean some, but not all, would have to hand the money back — something he appeared to confirm the next day.
“If we were sitting, that’s one thing. But anything else, they’re paying back,” Ford said on July 15. “I have zero tolerance for that.”
But by July 16, Ford hardened his stance, insisting all expenses — including for night sittings when MPPs were told they could get hotels — would be repaid.
“As my colleagues know: unacceptable,” he said at an unrelated event that day. “Totally unacceptable and I’ve told them they’re paying it back.”
While Stan Cho said he has repaid all $16,000 in hotel expenses, the premier’s office has yet to provide evidence of that payment.
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