A democracy watchdog is questioning the practice of municipal governments receiving free tickets to events hosted at public venues, following a CBC News investigation.
Access to free tickets has been under scrutiny after a former federal cabinet minister accepted tickets from a Crown corporation to see Taylor Swift during the Eras Tour.
Documents obtained by CBC News through freedom of information requests show municipalities with taxpayer-funded arenas and theatres in British Columbia have received hundreds of complimentary tickets worth thousands of dollars to events hosted at their facilities.
Facility-use agreements between the City of Kelowna and Live Nation Canada show seven complimentary tickets were allotted to the city for Tenille Townes, Darcy and Jer and Paul Brandt and Terri Clarke. The events were held at the Kelowna Community Theatre, owned by the city.
Forty tickets were routinely given to the City of Prince George for shows at CN Centre — the city’s arena — dating back almost twenty years, including for: Elton John, Sarah McLachlan and The Tragically Hip.
And the City of Kamloops was granted 40 free tickets from Live Nation Canada to a Bryan Adams concert in 2023, as part of an agreement to use its public arena, Sandman Centre. It received another 40 tickets to Blue Rodeo.
CBC has learned the tickets are generally given to mayor and council, city staff, media (including CBC), non-profits and volunteers. Tickets may be gifted to community groups or used as promotional material, but in some instances, they have been given to elected officials.
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, says these contracts aren’t usually made public, and cities shouldn’t be using them to get free tickets in secret. He said city politicians and staff who accept free tickets are profiting personally from a public facility or could be using them to buy relationships, if they’re giving them away.
“This is really deeply unethical to be doing this,” Conacher said.
Kelowna, Prince George and Victoria track who receives the tickets. The City of Kamloops, however, does not. Kamloops also stood out for charging fees, requiring third-party approval and redacting its free tickets from the contracts during the freedom of information request (FOI) process.
The redacted documents were released on Oct. 15, 2024, three months after the initial request, and following approval of millions in borrowing to build a new performing arts centre in downtown Kamloops for concerts and other events. CBC later appealed the redactions, leading to the release of the information.
CBC’s investigation found a noteworthy case of free tickets in Kamloops.
City emails show staff offered two tickets to each game, show and event with drinks to the mayor and council for the Memorial Cup, the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, which came to Kamloops in 2023.
The email said tickets were being provided to each of them by the host organizing committee due to “significant support.” Kamloops council approved nearly a million dollars in upgrades to Sandman Centre before the event.
“Recognizing, approving and fast tracking the improvements Sandman Centre needed to keep our facility up to date was the first step and had those improvements not been done, the Memorial Cup would not be coming to Kamloops …” the email states.
“Christmas has come early this year,” added the council’s executive assistant.
Kamloops councillor Bill Sarai accepted the tickets. He said it is common for elected officials in communities that host the Memorial Cup to receive VIP packages to represent their city and welcome tourists.
“We upgraded Sandman Centre to be able to host the Memorial Cup,” Sarai said. “So, in order for us to do that, yes, we have to spend some money. Is the end goal, ‘Oh, we want to spend a million dollars, so I can get a hundred-dollar ticket to go to Memorial Cup?’ I think that’s far-fetched.”
City of Kamloops corporate officer Maria Mazzotta said B.C.’s Community Charter prohibits councillors from accepting quid pro quo situations, with some exceptions, and requires councillors to report gifts or benefits that exceed $250.
Full-event tickets to the Memorial Cup were about $600 each. Asked if he reported the tickets, Sarai told CBC: “I was not made aware of the value of the package.”
Conacher said a lack of knowledge doesn’t exempt someone from penalties associated with breaching the Community Charter and criticized a “loophole,” in which gifts are reported to municipal corporate officers, not the public. He said if an event is important enough for city staff or council to attend, the city should pay for tickets.
“Because otherwise this is a secretive system of possibly trading favours and you have to know who is benefiting from city council or city staff, in order to know what favours they may be doing in return for someone,” Conacher said. “It’s a dangerously unethical practice, and the only real solution is to not have free tickets provided.”
