Ontario PC MPPs face ethics probes over taxpayer‑funded advertising and hotel expenses

Progressive Conservative MPP Hardeep Grewal of Brampton East is under investigation after the Ontario NDP asked the integrity commissioner to examine his use of a publicly funded constituency budget to place advertisements in the Punjabi Post, a newspaper owned by his father Jagdish Singh Grewal. Grewal had already drawn criticism for billing roughly $27,000 in taxpayer‑funded Toronto hotel stays despite residing in Brampton.

In a separate but related case, PC MPP Stan Cho of Willowdale resigned from the Ford cabinet after disclosures that his riding association incurred almost $100,000 in food, beverage, hotel and flight expenses over three years—spending that was largely outside his constituency. Cho had previously faced scrutiny for more than $16,000 in Toronto hotel bills, leading to a pledge to repay the costs and ultimately his resignation. The provincial government has said it will move to eliminate the “special circumstances” provision that allowed such hotel reimbursements.

Both incidents have prompted calls from opposition parties for greater transparency and reform of expense rules governing Ontario legislators.