Premier Doug Ford billed Ontario taxpayers $44K despite claiming zero expenses

Premier Doug Ford has billed Ontario taxpayers more than $44,000 in airfare, hotels, and meals since 2018, contradicting his recent claim that he has "zero" public expenses.

On July 20, during an unrelated news conference, Ford told reporters he was "the only premier in the history of this province that has a zero expense account." But an analysis of his publicly available expense documents shows 90 individual claims filed between July 2018 and February 2022, including $26,178 on airfare, $17,752 on accommodation, and $445 on food.

All expenses were incurred while Ford was traveling in his role as premier within the province, across Canada, or to the United States for trade missions and meetings with other premiers. His meal expenses included a $5.85 charge for a trip to Columbus, Ohio in 2019.

When asked why Ford claimed to have zero expenses, his office said every charge was related to government business and independently approved according to Cabinet guidelines. The revelation comes as the Ford government faces scrutiny over a dozen Greater Toronto Area Progressive Conservative MPPs who billed taxpayers more than $100,000 for downtown Toronto hotel stays, exploiting a "special circumstances" rule meant for emergencies. Ford said all of those individuals will repay the money.