Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho has resigned from cabinet after a week of scandal over his spending on hotels in Toronto, despite living six kilometres from Queen’s Park.
Global News was first to report that Cho, whose home is seven subway stops from the legislature, had billed more than $16,000 to the taxpayer for hotel stays downtown over the past three years.
After the story broke, Cho said he would pay the money back, but following a week of backlash, Premier Doug Ford said the Willowdale MPP had offered to step down.
“Earlier today, I accepted the resignation of Stan Cho from Cabinet, effective immediately,” the premier’s office wrote on Friday morning.
“He has acknowledged and taken responsibility for his mistake. He will continue to serve the people of Willowdale as their Member of Provincial Parliament.”
Cho said in his own statement that he had paid back the hotel stays and accepted claiming them was a mistake.
“I am taking full responsibility, as I do not want to be a distraction from our plan to grow the economy,” the Willowdale MPP wrote.
“I have a young family at home and a schedule that too often kept me from them. On late nights, I made a choice that was easier for me. I did not stop to ask how it would look to a person in my riding working a double shift.”
Ford said Attorney General Doug Downey would take on Cho’s responsibilities in the interim.
Marit Stiles, Ontario NDP Leader, said the resignation left lingering questions.
“MPP Cho’s resignation does not explain the $16,000 in hotel expenses that he racked up,” she wrote in a statement. “This Minister was riding high, living the suite life on the taxpayer dime, and is now trying to dodge accountability because he got caught.”
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She pointed out that ministers Charmaine Williams and Nina Tangri, as well as parliamentary assistant Hardeep Grewal, charged the public $50,000 between them over two years for hotel stays, despite living in neighbouring Peel Region.
Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said Cho’s expenses were the “tip of the iceberg,” pointing to similar claims by other Toronto-area MPPs.
“There’s more to the story than just Stan Cho’s hotel rooms. There are more ministers and members, and there are more scandals,” he wrote 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.”
The Liberal leader called on the government to publish all the receipts for hotel stay claims.
Between 2018, when Cho first won the Toronto-area riding of Willowdale, and 2022, the minister didn’t require the benefit and didn’t submit any expenses for overnight hotel stays in the city.
That trend began to change in 2023 before dramatically increasing over the past year:
- 2023-24: $1,431 in Toronto accommodation
- 2024-25: $3,081 in Toronto accommodation
- 2025-26: $11,691 in Toronto accommodation
Under expense rules in Ontario, MPPs who live more than 50 kilometres away from Queen’s Park are allowed to bill taxpayers for a residence in or around Toronto, allowing them to be closer to the legislature, where the bulk of a politician’s work is conducted.
MPPs who live within that 50-kilometre boundary, however, are only allowed to claim accommodation costs for “special or unusual circumstances,” according to the legislature expense guidelines, and only “on an overnight basis.”
Critics, though, are asking why Cho needed to stay in a hotel at all.
While his riding is roughly a 30-minute drive away from the Ontario legislature, publicly accessible property records show Cho’s primary residence is exactly 5.9 km — or seven subway stops — away from Queen’s Park.
As a cabinet minister, Cho also has access to a government-assigned vehicle, which is generally driven by a member of staff.
In his statement, Cho reiterated his spending was within the rules — adding it was still a mistake.
“Over the past three years I claimed accommodation in the city on nights the legislature sat late,” he wrote. “I have reviewed every one of those claims and am satisfied they met the criteria set out in the members’ guide.”
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