Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli charged more than $21,000 in foreign travel expenses to his local Progressive Conservative riding association while taxpayers were already covering tens of thousands of dollars for his international government travel.

According to public records reported by Global News, Fedeli's Nipissing riding association recorded $8,417.60 in “out of country travel” expenses in 2023 and another $12,847.66 in “foreign travel expenses” in 2024.

That's more than $21,000 billed to the riding association over two years.

At the same time, taxpayers paid more than $180,000 between 2023 and 2025 for Fedeli's government-related international trade missions, including flights, hotels and transportation.

The PC Party says there's an explanation: the riding association was reimbursing staff for some meal costs incurred during Fedeli's international trade missions.

“MPP Fedeli has a longstanding agreement with his EDA to reimburse staff for a portion of their meals incurred during international trade and investment missions, which has saved the taxpayer more than $90,000 in per diems over the past two years,” the party told Global News.

NEW: Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development charged his riding association more than $21,000 for “out of country” staff meal expenses, public records show, while simultaneously billing taxpayers for official government-related travel.

https://t.co/WuXiLfCeiL#onpoli

— Colin D'Mello | Global News (@ColinDMello) August 21, 2026

The party insists Fedeli himself didn't benefit from the riding association payments and personally covered his own meals.

But the arrangement raises questions about transparency because Fedeli previously portrayed his international travel expenses much differently while appearing before a legislative committee.

“We don’t expense our meals,” Fedeli told the committee. “Even though there are accommodations for that, we don’t use any of it. We are a very, very lean machine.”

While taxpayers may not have been directly paying those particular meal expenses, Fedeli's riding association was apparently picking up some meal costs associated with the same government trade missions.

And riding association money isn't exclusively private donor money. Ontario political parties and constituency associations receive public funding through the province's per-vote subsidy.

Fedeli's riding association has also reported spending thousands at steakhouses along with expenses for Uber trips, the UP Express, dry cleaning and even a meeting aboard a Georgian Bay cruise.

Fedeli isn't the only Ford government MPP facing scrutiny over riding association spending.

Global News previously reported Willowdale MPP Stan Cho's riding association spent nearly $100,000 on food and beverages, along with expenses for hotels, entertainment and a limousine rental.

Help us expose political perks, questionable expenses and taxpayer-funded extravagance at PayTheMoneyBack.com.

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