Some pay $1,500 to throw axes and eat chicken tenders.
Others spend $3,400 on oysters and delicate Japanese tapas. Or $485 at a Toronto establishment serving the “largest” selection of tequila in Canada, the kind that glides down with serene notes of caramel, chocolate or honey.
It’s possible to drop $6,000 at a “Kosher chicken” restaurant and, it seems, equally plausible to pay $14,900 for organic grass-fed premium beef that had been gently raised in the rolling pastures of King City.
What, you may ask, is the link between these gastronomical affairs?
They are among hundreds of thousands of dollars in meeting expenses claimed by a small number of riding associations of Premier Doug Ford‘s cabinet ministers, according to Elections Ontario filings.
These expenses are lawful and compliant with Ontario’s election financing rules. But they take on new significance after Ford kick-started a broader debate about political spending when he ordered MPPs to repay expense claims that were permitted under legislative rules, saying they should not have been charged despite being allowed. The move fuelled questions about the gap between what is permissible under the rules and what voters consider acceptable.
A Star analysis of riding association annual reports filed with Elections Ontario for 2024 and 2025 examined the associations of Ontario cabinet ministers and found five PC associations that spent more than $30,000 on expenses categorized as “meetings hosted” in at least one of those years.
The expenses, funded by political donations that qualify for provincial tax credits, included restaurant bills, banquet hall dances and large-scale community events. Parties also get public subsidies for each vote received.
The records don’t reveal who was reimbursed for the “meetings” or even who attended them, making it difficult to determine who, if anyone, benefited from them or whether they were primarily fundraisers, community events or donor outreach efforts. But they reveal a glimpse at how political donations are being spent and raise questions about why some cabinet ministers’ riding associations spend dramatically more than others.
The Star asked the five associations’ chief financial officers — rather than the ministers themselves, who are not responsible for filing the riding association’s financial reports — how often the MPPs participated in the meetings and events. None responded.
Handful of cabinet ministers account for bulk of spending
Over those two years, the top five spent a combined $356,312 from money given to them by party supporters, who in turn received tax breaks for their donations.
The remaining ridings, which represent 32 cabinet and associate ministers, including Premier Doug Ford, spent far less, at $325,720 over that two-year period. Their average on meetings hosted was $10,000 while the average outlay for the top five was $71,000.
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce and Premier Doug Ford attend a news conference in Toronto on April 17, 2025. The riding associations for Lecce claimed $79,647 over the two years.
Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press file photo
Leading the coterie is a $47,200 claim made each year by the PC riding association in Vaughan—Woodbridge, a riding represented in the Ontario legislature by associate solicitor general Michael Tibollo. It paid Venu Event Space $47,200 in each of the last two years for Tibollo’s annual “Chestnut Roast” fundraiser, inviting politicians, police brass and community members.
Next in line — using the combined two-year totals — were the riding associations for Energy Minister Stephen Lecce ($79,647), former tourism minister Stan Cho ($68,646), Labour Minister David Piccini ($57,325) and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner ($40,472).
Honourable mention goes to Environment Minister Todd McCarthy’s Durham riding association, which spent just below the threshold for inclusion at $29,134 in 2024.
However, many Tory cabinet ministers have fiscally conservative riding associations when it comes to “meetings hosted.” Those of Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson (Huron—Bruce) and Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris (Kitchener—Conestoga), for instance, officially claimed zero dollars in that expense category.
Rounding out the five tightest Tory riding associations over 2024 and 2025 were Brampton North (Citizenship Minister Graham McGregor, $1,632), Nipissing (Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, $1,977) and Milton (associate solicitor general for auto theft Zee Hamid, $1,990).
Meanwhile, Etobicoke North PC Riding Association — Premier Doug Ford’s riding — spent just $2,548 over the two-year period.
The politics of permissible spending
The top-spending ridings billed the most in 2024, the year before the premier called an early election, portraying himself as Captain Canada to counter the return of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Now, in what Abacus Data president David Coletto calls the “summer of expenses and private jets,” such spending appears to matter to Ford, whose popularity dropped by two points in Coletto’s most recent survey, while the opposition Liberal and New Democrats got a slight boost.
Coletto says July’s brouhaha over MPPs’ personal expenses hurt Ford.
Stan Cho, then Ontario’s minister of tourism, takes part in a news conference with Premier Doug Ford in Toronto on Feb. 26, 2026. The PC association for Cho’s riding spent $68,646 over the two-year period.
Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press file photo
Tourism minister Stan Cho resigned from cabinet after Ford ordered him to pay back $16,203 in downtown hotel costs Cho had expensed over three years, even though he lived just a short drive away. MPPs are allowed to claim such expenses, but the premier insisted his Toronto-area MPPs repay what amounted to $120,000 in hotel claims.
Coletto said that Tory donor-funded expenses and their tax subsidies can be more challenging to explain, but the lifestyles they afford can erode voter support — especially for a premier who was elected as an everyman “buck-a-beer” guy.
New details on high-end socializing connected to the riding associations of a few cabinet ministers add a new complication, he said.
“It has the risk of people believing that these individuals are using their office, whether they’re a cabinet minister or an MPP, to have a lifestyle that is better than they would otherwise have because they hold that office,” he said.
What the records reveal and what they don’t
Under the Ontario Elections Act, political riding associations — not local constituency offices that are government funded — must file a report detailing the intake of contributions and the output of expenses, such as money spent on office supplies, professional fees or socializing under “meetings hosted,” which, in the case of Piccini’s riding association, shows a social flexibility, partaking of the culinary elite and axe-tossing parties.
These details are found in the “public scrutiny” room in the Don Mills office of Elections Ontario. Anyone can go and spend an hour, or six days, reading thousands of pages of annual reports, all held in hard plastic binders.
The Star submitted questions about the spending and PC Party of Ontario responded on behalf of the ministers.
“Members of all political stripes are allocated budgets by their riding associations to support their role in the community. This can be used to support fundraising, volunteer engagement, stakeholder outreach or to host community events,” the party’s communications director Peter Turkington said in an email.
“MPPs host annual community events, including Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and/or Lunar New Year celebrations for their constituents, as do MPPs Lecce, Tibollo and McCarthy.
Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and Premier Doug Ford attend a news conference in Toronto on April 25, 2023. The PC association for Kerzner’s riding spent $40,472 over the two-year period.
Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press file photo
“MPPs also regularly host appreciation events for volunteers and EDA members, which may include community barbecues and dinners, as MPPs McCarthy, Lecce, Surma, Calandra, Kerzner and Piccini have held to thank their volunteers for their hard work,” Turkington wrote.
“At party conventions, many MPPs host events for party members to participate in, as MPP Calandra did, and as MPP Kerzner did hosting a Shabbat dinner.”
He also questioned why the Star focused on Tory spending.
He cited a dozen examples of Liberal or New Democrat riding association expenses “from personal items to catering and accommodations,” including clothing. He did not give a time frame for these expenses.
The Star kept its search to “meetings hosted.” To make a direct comparison, in Davenport, where NDP Leader Marit Stiles is the MPP, the NDP riding association spent $683 in 2024 and $82 in 2025 on meetings hosted. The Liberal riding association in Ottawa South, represented by interim party leader John Fraser, spent $1,949 in 2024 and $2,315 in 2025.
The difference, said Stiles, is power.
“These are government ministers, and how they spend people’s money, taxpayers or donors, tells you what their priorities are,” she said.
“It’s no secret that members of this government have a spending problem and that problem goes all the way to the top.”
As Coletto noted, it also raises questions about who is part of those gatherings and what they may be seeking from cabinet ministers. Without answers, the public can jump to conclusions and, he added, “politicians writ large don’t start off with a lot of goodwill from the public.”
The question that does not have a publicly available answer, he said, is: what is the purpose of these meetings?
“That matters because these are individuals who have political power. If you’re a minister, you have legislative and regulatory ability to approve projects or stop projects on a range of things that the leader of the opposition or the leader of the third party does not have or any individual MPP doesn’t have.”
Inside the highest-spending riding associations
Most of the spending in the PC riding association for Vaughan—Woodbridge, represented by Tibollo, was directed to Venu Event Space, which is owned by chef Phil Aiello, according to its website and corporation reports. The Star tried to contact Aiello but did not get a response to an email and voicemail. The rest of the riding association’s spending mostly paid for wholesale food.
Number two on the list was the PC riding association in King—Vaughan, the riding represented by Lecce, which spent donations on large gatherings, such as a “community barbecue” serving up nearly $15,000 worth of Beretta Farm beef in 2024, as well as restaurant bills for, say, $1,850 to Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine or $900 at the Eagles Nest Golf Club.
Labour Minister David Piccini and Premier Doug Ford make a funding announcement in Hamilton on Aug. 20, 2025. The PC riding association for Piccini’s riding spent $57,325 in 2024 and 2025, according to Elections Ontario filings.
Carlos Osorio/The Canadian Press file photo
In third and fourth place, respectively, are the PC riding associations for Willowdale, where Cho is the MPP, and Northumberland—Peterborough South, Piccini’s riding. Piccini is under investigation by the Ontario Integrity Commissioner for his management of the Ford government’s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund.
In 2024, Cho’s riding association spent $54,000 on meetings hosted. That figure includes $4,333 in meals at the Niagara Marriott on the Falls; $3,409 at Toronto’s Nome Izakaya, which offers Japanese tapas and Toronto’s “best oyster bar”; $6,970 on “Rogers Blue Jays” and $9,708 at Sher-E-Punjab, an Indian restaurant on the Danforth.
The Star recently reported on the 2024 spending by the PC riding association in Northumberland—Peterborough South, which totalled $40,752, including sushi-rolling classes at Toronto’s Roll This Way along with fine dining across the city and Fort Lauderdale, with meals at a golf course and a Korean-Japanese restaurant. In 2025, it spent $16,573, including $1,533 at BATL Grounds, an establishment that serves chicken tenders and indulges the desire to throw axes and knives at wall targets.
In the last two years combined, Cho’s riding association expensed $68,646 in social events. Piccini’s spent $57,325.
In fifth place, Kerzner’s York-Centre riding association spent $33,684 in 2024. Those outings included $17,374 in hospitality catering along with $831 at the highly rated Chicken’s Nest Kosher Restaurant and another $5,642 in catering from the same restaurant, all listed under the meetings hosted category.
A broader debate over political donations
Attention to political party spending is a valuable exercise, said Brian Lewis, a senior fellow with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy who is a former Ontario chief economist.
It also opens a public policy discussion, Lewis said, on the tax writeoffs offered to Ontario political donors for all parties.
According to the Ontario government, in 2026, political donors will get a 75 per cent credit on the first $509.42 of donations; after that, it offers 50 per cent up to $1,698.08, and, once surpassed, it provides a 33 per cent credit up to $3,863.33.
Transparency on the use of political donations is helpful, he noted, for enlightening the public on an MPP’s “judgment.”
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When the Star told Lewis that many of the cabinet members appear to be frugal, at least in the “meetings hosted” category, he said that after working in the Finance Ministry for 30 years, that finding does not surprise him.
“Most ministers are very reasonable people who are well-intended, who aren’t going to take advantage of these things, right? Like (Finance Minister) Peter Bethlenfalvy, he clearly doesn’t, for example, right? He’s the last minister I reported for. He clearly does not take advantage of these things. And good on him.”
Bethlenfalvy’s riding association does not appear on the Star’s list of the tightest Tories, but compared to those of his colleagues, its two-year total of $6,926 on food or drink gives it low-spender status, according to Elections Ontario reports.