Andrea Grebenc
It seems that tax-funded gravy, so often and fondly mentioned by Premier Ford, has been smothered all over the expense reports in the Burlington MPP’s office.
Inside Halton1 reported that Burlington MPP Natalie Pierre “expensed $30,740 for Toronto accommodation in the 2025-2026 fiscal year”. That is almost a full year’s pay for someone working minimum wage.
This is Burlington. Many people who live here commute to Toronto daily, including downtown, the equivalent distance to Queen’s Park, and beyond. Given that the 2025-26 legislative session has only sat for 73 days, MPP Pierre must have stayed in a hotel every single work day. $30,740 works out to $421 in accommodation expenses per sitting! Inside Halton reported on accommodation expenses – not meals, lattes, or other incidentals. Why couldn’t the Burlington MPP just hop on the GO for the short commute home? I find it particularly disingenuous to see the MPP’s face on local Metrolinx ads promoting GO Transit while thousands of Burlington residents are using those same stations to make the daily commute themselves.
Yes, the expense is allowed, but the optics are bad. $30,740 is exactly the annual maximum permitted for accommodation for any MPP residing 50 km or more from Queen’s Park. MPPs from outside of the GTA don’t have the same access to cost-effective, efficient transit options as the Burlington MPP. Just because an expense is allowed doesn’t mean you should take full uninhibited advantage of it. Combined with the blatant disregard for the reality of her own constituents’ commutes, rising costs, and tight household budgets, using this expense line so frequently feels wildly out of touch. Those are hard-earned tax dollars, not an MPP staycation slush fund.
This calls to mind Burlington PC MPP and Minister Cam Jackson’s expense scandal in 2002. The electorate was furious and Cam resigned from cabinet. The PC party has not learned to respect the taxpayers after all this time.
As Burlington voters, we expect our MPPs to model fiscal responsibility, to understand their community, and to behave at a higher standard. In light of the evidence within her own expense report, MPP Pierre should not represent Burlington anymore. It is telling that back in October 2024, the MPP announced her plan to not run for re-election and then flip-flopped two months later. Perhaps her change of heart was that she couldn’t bring herself to disembark from the gravy-train.