Cabinet Riding Associations Spending Donor Cash

The Toronto Star's analysis of riding association annual reports filed with Elections Ontario for 2024 and 2025 found five cabinet ministers' associations that spent a combined $356,312 in the "meetings hosted" category over the two years. The settings included a city restaurant serving Japanese sashimi, a tequila bar, and an axe-throwing establishment.

The top spender was Vaughan-Woodbridge, represented by associate solicitor general Michael Tibollo, whose association paid Venu Event Space $47,200 in each of the last two years — $94,400 in total — for Tibollo's annual "Chestnut Roast" fundraiser, which invited politicians, police brass and community members. Combined two-year totals for the others: Stephen Lecce $79,647, former tourism minister Stan Cho $68,646, Labour Minister David Piccini $57,325, and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner $40,472. Lecce's King-Vaughan association's 2024 report shows $14,949 paid to Beretta Farms for a "community barbecue" at a King City farm.

This is not purely private money. The expenses were paid from political donations that qualify for provincial tax credits, alongside public subsidies parties receive for each vote won. The filings also do not reveal who attended these meetings or who, if anyone, benefited — which is what makes the category resistant to scrutiny.

The Star contacted Lecce's office 13 days before publication with specific questions; his office did not respond. PC Party communications director Peter Turkington said the Star had not provided a proper explanation, and described the King-Vaughan event as a "community barbeque, with hamburgers, snacks, and fun for the kids, hosting hundreds of residents, and local stakeholders, and first responders," adding that "context is necessary... It was a well-attended barbeque with food sources from the farm host, a proudly King company using 100% Canadian meat." The party said the expenses reflect "appreciation events for volunteers and (riding association) members, which may include community barbecues and dinners."

Noah Jarvis, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, told the Star that "even if there are disputes, they bring into question how our political parties are using taxpayer money," noting that the political donation tax credit is "more generous than the one you get when donating to a charitable organization." His conclusion: "Parties really need to treat this money respectfully. Taxpayers are giving them that money, not just donors."

Liberal interim leader John Fraser compared the filings to "reading the lifestyles of the rich and famous. They're living pretty high off the hog," and added that "whether it's donor money or taxpayer money, there are too many people using it as their personal piggy bank."

The reporting lands in a season already defined by expense questions around this government, including the MPP hotel expense scandal. The recurring pattern is not any single receipt but a category of spending that is disclosed in aggregate and not in detail.

Elections Ontario filings are the public's main window into riding association finances, and the Star's second report on the filings — covering oyster dinners and luxury beef bills — notes expenses including nearly $15,000 for organic grass-fed premium beef, funded by donations that qualify for provincial tax credits.

Because the reports record what was spent and where but not who was present or what was decided, the filings cannot answer the question they invite. The Star's own reporting notes that the records do not reveal who attended the meetings or who, if anyone, benefited.