Ontario MPP charged riding association for restaurants, hotels and limo rental

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.