The expense scandal gripping Queen’s Park has created a divide in the Progressive Conservative caucus, as members quietly express anger over the unintended consequences of their colleagues’ actions and the premier’s office’s handling of the situation.
Global News first reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses billed by Willowdale MPP Stan Cho to taxpayers and donors over the course of three years, resulting in apologies from Premier Doug Ford and fresh scrutiny of the rest of the PC Party caucus.
Despite living just six kilometres away from Queen’s Park, Cho billed taxpayers more than $16,000 to stay in Toronto hotel rooms between 2023 and 2025, claiming them under a “special circumstance” allowance afforded to Greater Toronto Area MPPs.
Over that same period, Cho billed nearly $100,000 in food and beverage expenses, more than $6,000 in airfare, more than $12,000 in hotel rooms and over $13,000 at sporting venues in Toronto and beyond — much of which was claimed as “meetings hosted.”
The twin expense scandals, along with the government’s response, have created “camps” of MPPs expressing frustration over the fallout.
Sources said part of the anger stems from Cho’s hotel expenses, which are “hard to justify” given the proximity to his home address.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
After the scandal broke, the government quickly moved to eliminate the expense altogether, leaving caucus members feeling deprived of what was widely viewed as a legitimate benefit that was being abused by a handful of MPPs.
A significant part of the anger, however, appears to be directed at the premier’s office and Ford himself, who has offered shifting responses to the scandal.
Ford has publicly called the hotel expenses incurred by Cho a “mistake,” has labelled other hotel expenses PC MPPs “unacceptable” and has vowed that they will pay “every penny” back to taxpayers.
But the premier’s anger at his MPPs appears to directly contradict what his government was privately telling its members over the past four years.
As early as 2022, and again in late 2025, the government house leader and caucus whip’s office instructed PC MPPs to prepare for night sittings by potentially booking hotel rooms.
“Given the uncertainty in the coming days, members may want to arrange Toronto accommodation to ensure they are on or near the precinct until further notice,” one email from October 2022 read.
“This email is being sent only to MPPs and this information should be kept in the strictest of confidences.”
Legislative transcripts show more than a dozen night sittings over that time period were scheduled but then abruptly cancelled by the government house leader.
MPPs who believed they were simply following instructions were angered when Ford appeared to place the blame on them in the fallout of the initial story.
“They’re paying the money back,” Ford said. “The party with the taxpayers’ dollars are over, believe me, nothing compared to previous governments.”
Adding to the anger is the timing of the scandal.
The disclosures come three months after Ford’s ill-fated purchase and immediate sale of a $28.9 million Challenger 650 private jet for his official travel — a decision that led to public uproar and was labelled the “gravy plane” by the opposition.
Weeks later, Ford fired the chair of the Ontario PC Party caucus after the premier was confronted on the thorny issue of MPP pension plans, widely viewed as bungled by the government.
Finally, some Progressive Conservative MPPs have been forced to cancel or reschedule fundraisers, worried that Cho’s riding association expenses would make it difficult to explain how donor funds will be used by the party.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
