These expenses are lawful and compliant with Ontario\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cmeetings hosted\u201d in at least one of those years.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The records don\u2019t reveal who was reimbursed for the \u201cmeetings\u201d 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\u2019 riding associations spend dramatically more than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Star asked the five associations\u2019 chief financial officers \u2014 rather than the ministers themselves, who are not responsible for filing the riding association\u2019s financial reports \u2014 how often the MPPs participated in the meetings and events. None responded.<\/p>\n
Handful of cabinet ministers account for bulk of spending<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce and Premier Doug Ford attend a news conference in Toronto\u00a0 on April 17, 2025.\u00a0The riding associations for Lecce claimed $79,647 over the two years.<\/p>\n
Arlyn McAdorey\/The Canadian Press file photo<\/p>\n
Leading the coterie is a $47,200 claim made each year by the PC riding association in Vaughan\u2014Woodbridge, a riding represented in the Ontario legislature by associate solicitor general Michael Tibollo.\u00a0It\u00a0paid Venu Event Space $47,200 in each of the last two years for Tibollo\u2019s annual \u201cChestnut Roast\u201d fundraiser, inviting politicians, police brass and community members.<\/p>\n
Next in line \u2014 using the combined two-year totals \u2014 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).<\/p>\n
Honourable mention goes to Environment Minister Todd McCarthy\u2019s Durham riding association, which spent just below the threshold for inclusion at $29,134 in 2024.<\/p>\n
However, many\u00a0Tory cabinet ministers have fiscally conservative riding associations when it comes to \u201cmeetings hosted.\u201d Those of\u00a0Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson (Huron\u2014Bruce) and Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris (Kitchener\u2014Conestoga), for instance, officially claimed zero dollars in that expense category.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Etobicoke North PC Riding Association \u2014 Premier Doug Ford\u2019s riding \u2014 spent just $2,548 over the two-year period.<\/p>\n
The politics of permissible spending<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Now, in what Abacus Data president David Coletto calls the \u201csummer of expenses and private jets,\u201d such spending appears to matter to Ford, whose popularity dropped by two points in Coletto\u2019s most recent survey, while the opposition Liberal and New Democrats got a slight boost.<\/p>\n
Coletto says July\u2019s brouhaha over MPPs\u2019 personal expenses hurt Ford.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stan Cho, then Ontario\u2019s minister of tourism, takes part in a news conference with Premier Doug Ford in Toronto on Feb. 26, 2026.\u00a0The PC association for Cho\u2019s riding spent $68,646 over the two-year period.<\/p>\n
Sammy Kogan\/The Canadian Press file photo<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 especially for a premier who was elected as an everyman \u201cbuck-a-beer\u201d guy.<\/p>\n
New details on high-end socializing connected to the riding associations of a few cabinet ministers add a new complication, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has the risk of people believing that these individuals are using their office, whether they\u2019re a cabinet minister or an MPP, to have a lifestyle that is better than they would otherwise have because they hold that office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What the records reveal and what they don\u2019t<\/p>\n
Under the Ontario Elections Act, political riding associations \u2014 not local constituency offices that are government funded \u2014 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 \u201cmeetings hosted,\u201d which, in the case of Piccini\u2019s riding association, shows a social flexibility, partaking of the culinary elite and axe-tossing parties.<\/p>\n
These details are found in the \u201cpublic scrutiny\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Star submitted questions about the spending and PC Party of Ontario responded on behalf of the ministers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers 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,\u201d the party\u2019s communications director Peter Turkington said in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMPPs host annual community events, including Christmas, St. Patrick\u2019s Day and\/or Lunar New Year celebrations for their constituents, as do MPPs Lecce, Tibollo and McCarthy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and Premier Doug Ford attend a news conference in Toronto on April 25, 2023. The PC association for Kerzner\u2019s riding spent $40,472 over the two-year period.<\/p>\n
Tijana Martin\/The Canadian Press file photo<\/p>\n
\u201cMPPs 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,\u201d Turkington wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also questioned why the Star focused on Tory spending.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He cited a dozen examples of Liberal or New Democrat riding association expenses \u201cfrom personal items to catering and accommodations,\u201d including clothing. He did not give a time frame for these expenses.<\/p>\n
The Star kept its search to \u201cmeetings hosted.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
The difference, said Stiles, is power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are government ministers, and how they spend people\u2019s money, taxpayers or donors, tells you what their priorities are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that members of this government have a spending problem and that problem goes all the way to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
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, \u201cpoliticians writ large don\u2019t start off with a lot of goodwill from the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question that does not have a publicly available answer, he said, is: what is the purpose of these meetings?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat matters because these are individuals who have political power. If you\u2019re 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\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside the highest-spending riding associations<\/p>\n
Most of the spending in the PC riding association for Vaughan\u2014Woodbridge, 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\u2019s spending mostly paid for wholesale food.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Number two on the list was the PC riding association in King\u2014Vaughan, the riding represented by Lecce, which spent donations on large gatherings, such as a \u201ccommunity barbecue\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Labour Minister David Piccini and Premier Doug Ford make a funding announcement in Hamilton on Aug. 20, 2025. The PC riding association for Piccini\u2019s riding spent\u00a0$57,325 in 2024 and 2025, according to Elections Ontario filings.<\/p>\n
Carlos Osorio\/The Canadian Press file photo<\/p>\n
In third and fourth place, respectively, are the PC riding associations for Willowdale, where Cho is the MPP, and Northumberland\u2014Peterborough South, Piccini\u2019s riding. Piccini is under investigation by the Ontario Integrity Commissioner for his management of the Ford government\u2019s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Cho\u2019s 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\u2019s Nome Izakaya, which offers Japanese tapas and Toronto\u2019s \u201cbest oyster bar\u201d; $6,970 on \u201cRogers Blue Jays\u201d and $9,708 at Sher-E-Punjab, an Indian restaurant on the Danforth.<\/p>\n