Dawn Gallagher Murphy MPP hosts her fifth annual taxpayer-funded community BBQ on Sunday 27 September 2026 from 2pm-4pm at Riverwalk Commons. 

It's all free and people love it. They queue up. They register. And they are now on her database.

So it’s time for me to accept defeat and throw in the towel.

For the past four years I have been sniping at our Progressive Conservative MPP for casually squandering taxpayers’ money on her annual “free” community BBQ at Riverwalk Commons.

This is what I said about her first BBQ; her second; her third and her fourth. And I railed about our MPP's flexible definition of her "office operations" budget and how much she spent on BBQs in her first term as Newmarket-Aurora's Progressive Conservative MPP. (Photo bottom right shows her 2023 BBQ.)

What started out as outrage has now mellowed into a reluctant acceptance of the practice. Dawn Gallagher Murphy was an early adopter but now MPPs all over Ontario have jumped on the bandwagon and are using taxpayers’ money to fund increasingly extravagant BBQs. And no-one bats an eyelid. 

So I gotta move on. 

Hey! Big Spender

Sheref Sabawy, the PC MPP for Mississagua Erin Mills, spent $32,157.59 on his BBQ. That’s over 30% of his “office operations” budget. The event reportedly attracted over 2,000 people. And he has just chalked up another $21,752 for an evening meal at the banqueting hall, Elmacan, on 6 March 2026 where an unspecified number of his constituents broke their fast during Ramadan with an evening meal at sunset.

This taxpayer funded extravagance puts Dawn Gallagher Murphy, by comparison, on the side of the Angels. Her spending on last year’s BBQ was a modest $9,662.19 – almost 11% of her “office operations” budget.

Of course, it escapes no-one that all this is happening at a time when the Province’s 2026 Budget is projecting annual interest payments of $17.2 billion on its ballooning debt. These interest payments are more than the annual cost of running the Province’s entire justice system ($$7.3B) or its spending on postsecondary education ($14B). But no matter.

I suppose the FordFest started it all with Doug handing out $20 bills to constituents just because he likes people and can afford to do it.

Lightning Fast

Digging out the details of MPPs spending was always possible but you had to know where to look. Now ChatGPT makes the whole process lightning fast and painless. So you can easily compare spending in 2025/6 with 2022/3 when Gallagher Murphy was first elected and the years in between. 

I shall wander down to Riverwalk Commons tomorrow and check out the vibes.

But, in line with my long standing practice, the puritan in me won’t let a “free” hamburger or “free” hot dog touch my lips.

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And from the man who started it all 

The table below shows the 43 MPPs who used taxpayers’ money to fund their BBQs in the Fiscal Year 2025/6. The Fiscal Year runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. (Figures pulled by ChatGPT and checked by me.)

35 of the 43 MPPs are Progressive Conservatives (claiming $403,213 in total); 3 are Liberal ($22,797 in total) and 5 are NDP ($21,725).

Office and Support Staff Expenses

From 2024–25 to 2025–26, Dawn Gallagher Murphy’s reported spending changed as follows. Percentages use 2024–25 as the base. www.ola.org