Progressive Conservative MPPs say they have repaid thousands in hotel room expenses

Two Progressive Conservative MPPs based in Brampton, Ont., say they have repaid tens of thousands of dollars for hotel rooms in downtown Toronto after a spending scandal that saw one cabinet minister resign.

Hardeep Grewal and Charmaine Williams, who represent Brampton East and Brampton Centre, said they had repaid $27,275 and $15,865 respectively for Toronto hotel rooms after being ordered to do so by Premier Doug Ford.

“The funds have been returned and the provision has been closed,” Grewal, who spent more on hotels than any other MPP over the past three years, said at an unrelated event on Tuesday.

At the same event, Williams also indicated she had paid back the taxpayer-funded rooms.

“The premier’s wishes have been granted; all the funds have been paid back,” she said.

The two MPPs were part of a broader hotel spending scandal earlier in the summer where some government members who lived either in or near Toronto booked hotel rooms in the city instead of driving home.

While some Progressive Conservatives billed a few hundred to a few thousand for rooms, Grewal and Williams were part of a group of four people who spent significantly more.

Between 2023 and 2026, four MPPs topped the list:

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 appeared 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,” labelled other hotel expenses by PC MPPs “unacceptable” and vowed that they would 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.

The scandal developed after Global News was first to report on the hotel room expenses incurred by members of the Ford government who live within driving distance of Queen’s Park.

Progressive Conservative MPPs including Grewal and Williams submitted the expenses under a “special circumstance” designation normally reserved for emergencies such as a snowstorm.

Tourism Minister Stan Cho, who lives less than six kilometres away from Queen’s Park, received the most scrutiny after billing taxpayers for more than $16,000 in Toronto hotel room stays over the past three years.

Cho resigned his cabinet role over the scandal and said he had repaid the full cost of the hotel rooms he claimed.

The government has not yet published proof that Cho, Williams or Grewal have repaid the hotel room costs in full.