May 12th, 2022
May 12th, 2022
Following news that Conservative candidates MacLeod, Rasheed and Rickford take an ‘MPP Allowance’ top-up from their riding associations, NDP’s Taras Natyshak and Waterloo candidate Catherine Fife are calling on all Conservative MPPs who have pocketed over $120,000 in top-ups to pay them back.
The NDP will ban the Conservative practice of using riding associations as personal ATMs and won’t allow Conservative MPPs to pocket allowances like this ever again.
Seven Conservative MPPs pocketed over $120,000 from riding associations since 2018. Lisa MacLeod pocketed over $44,000. Kaleed Rasheed pocketed $23,000. Greg Rickford pocketed over $18,000, including a $8640 “MPP car allowance” in his third year. Rudy Cuzetto pocketed over $10,000. Amy Fee, not running again in this campaign, pocketed over $10,000. Andrea Khanjin and Vincent Ke each pocketed $6500 and $7300, respectively.
Donors who have contributed to the riding associations include Conservative buddies like lobbyists and property developers seeking the construction of the 413. Ridings also receive a public subsidy.
The NDP’s Taras Natyshak: “It’s never been more obvious that Conservative MPPs are working for themselves and their buddies. They’ve treated these riding association accounts like personal ATMs. Every Conservative who took these top-ups should pay them back.”
The NDP’s Catherine Fife: “This shocking pocketing of money from riding associations has to come to an end. As Andrea Horwath has said, the NDP will ban MPPs from treating their riding associations like personal ATMs. We’ll work with Elections Ontario to improve democracy and never let Conservatives do it again. We’ll fix what the Conservatives have broke.”
Amounts taken by Conservative MPPs since 2018:
Lisa McLeod - $44,427
Kaleed Rasheed - $23,000
Greg Rickford - $18,640
Rudy Cuzetto - $10,815
Amy Fee - $10,750
Andrea Khanjin - $6,500
Vincent Ke - $7367
TOTAL - $121,499
Backgrounder:
“MPP Allowance” amounts pocketed by PC MPPs since 2018, as they listed on their own financial returns:
Lisa MacLeod:
2018- $18,200 “MPP expense allowance”
2019- $16,727 “MPP housing/exp allowance”
2020- $9,500 “MPP allowance”
Kaleed Rasheed
2019 - $11,000 “MPP allowance”
2020 - $12,000 “MPP allowance”
Greg Rickford
2018 - $4000 “MPP Allowance”
2019 - $6000 “MPP expense allowance”
2020 - $8640 “MPP Car Allowance”
Rudy Cuzetto
2018 - $5173 “Candidate/MPP expenses”
2019 - $2742 “MPP expenses”
2020 - $2889.99 “MPP expenses”
Amy Fee
2019 - $250 “MPP Allowance”
2020 - $10,500 “MPP Expense Allowance”
Vincent Ke
2019 - $3248 “auto expenses”
2020 - $4119.35 “auto expenses”
Andrea Khanjin
2019 - $3500 “MPP Allowances Paid”
2020 - $3000 “MPP ALLOWANCE”