'Not in our DNA': Doug Ford defends party's reputation as minister resigns

Premier orders all Progressive Conservative MPPs to repay hotel expenses after first cabinet resignation.

TORONTO – A scandal involving more than a dozen Progressive Conservative MPPs who used taxpayer money to pay for hotel rooms near the Legislature instead of returning to their nearby Toronto-area homes has claimed its first resignation. Tourism Minister Stan Cho, who spent $16,000 over multiple years on hotels despite living six kilometres from Queen’s Park, announced he is resigning from cabinet, though he will remain the MPP for Willowdale. In his resignation letter, Cho said that although the hotel stays did not violate MPP expense rules, he had still “made a mistake” and was resigning because he did “not want to be a distraction.”

“I have a young family at home and a schedule that too often kept me from them,” he wrote. “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.”

University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Wiseman suspects Cho was instructed to resign by the Premier’s Office. “They probably said, ‘Look, you got to leave, and if you don’t resign, you’ll be put in a position where we have to fire you.’ He obviously wants to stay in the good graces . . .

it’s not as though he has been thrown out of the caucus,” Wiseman said. The Ford government has already asked the other political parties to agree to scrap the rule allowing MPPs who live within 50 kilometres of the Legislature to claim hotel expenses for “special or unusual circumstances,” even though only Progressive Conservative MPPs used it. Since 2022, Progressive Conservative MPPs have spent more than $100,000 on hotels near the Legislature, including three other cabinet ministers: Associate Small Business Minister Nina Tangri, Associate Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity Minister Charmaine Williams and Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Stephen Crawford.

Toronto-area NDP and Liberal MPPs did not have the government pay for hotel rooms in Toronto. Premier Doug Ford said Friday that all his MPPs who claimed hotel expenses will have to repay the money, and insisted their actions do not reflect the values of the Progressive Conservative Party. “It’s unacceptable, it’s not how we operate.

We have to be proven fiscal managers. Stan did the right thing in his resignation from cabinet,” he said. “We don’t operate that way; that’s not in our DNA.”

Cho will now be one of the few Progressive Conservative MPPs to sit as a backbencher. Every other member of the Ford government holds an appointment as a minister, associate minister, parliamentary assistant, committee chair or Speaker of the House – positions that all come with a salary increase. Ford would not say whether he expects other Progressive Conservative MPPs to resign from their appointments or whether there will be an investigation.

“I have made it very clear to our entire caucus that it is unacceptable, and we aren’t going to tolerate it,” Ford said. “Every single person is going to pay back every single penny.” Official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles said Ford is not capable of holding his own MPPs to account because of the example he has set with controversies such as the so-called gravy plane.

“I have never seen a premier who put up with this stuff before. You demand the resignation of your ministers when they betray public trust,” she told reporters. “The problem is, it’s not just his ministers.

It’s not his MPPs, it’s the premier himself. It is all consistent with this premier . . . The rot starts at the very top.”

Wiseman said it is not unusual for “a certain laziness and rottenness” to start creeping into a government after being re-elected multiple times. “It’s natural, because they see themselves as the natural governing party,” he said. “People are more likely to start exploiting the perks that are available.”

Cho was not the only cabinet minister to announce a departure Friday, though the second resignation was unrelated to the expense scandal. Sport and Culture Minister Neil Lumsden announced his intention to leave provincial politics on Aug. 4. He did not give a specific reason for his decision but expressed his “full confidence” in Ford.

Both Cho’s and Lumsden’s portfolios will be taken over by Attorney General Doug Downey for the time being.