Government accountability watchdog calls for end to free concert tickets for city councillors

Jessica Wallace · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 20 minutes ago

A ideology watchdog is questioning the signifier of municipal governments receiving escaped tickets to events hosted astatine nationalist venues, pursuing a CBC News investigation.

Access to escaped tickets has been nether scrutiny after a erstwhile national furniture curate accepted tickets from a Crown corp to spot Taylor Swift during the Eras Tour. 

Documents obtained by CBC News done state of accusation requests amusement municipalities with taxpayer-funded arenas and theatres successful British Columbia person received hundreds of complimentary tickets worthy thousands of dollars to events hosted astatine their facilities.

Facility-use agreements betwixt the City of Kelowna and Live Nation Canada amusement 7 complimentary tickets were allotted to the metropolis for Tenille Townes, Darcy and Jer and Paul Brandt and Terri Clarke. The events were held astatine the Kelowna Community Theatre, owned by the city.

LISTEN | CBC investigates cities getting escaped tickets: 

Forty tickets were routinely fixed to the City of Prince George for shows astatine CN Centre — the city's arena — dating backmost astir 20 years, including for: Elton John, Sarah McLachlan and The Tragically Hip.

And the City of Kamloops was granted 40 escaped tickets from Live Nation Canada to a Bryan Adams performance successful 2023, arsenic portion of an statement to usage its nationalist arena, Sandman Centre. It received different 40 tickets to Blue Rodeo.

CBC has learned the tickets are mostly fixed to politician and council, metropolis staff, media (including CBC), non-profits and volunteers. Tickets whitethorn beryllium talented to assemblage groups oregon utilized arsenic promotional material, but successful immoderate instances, they person been fixed to elected officials.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, says these contracts aren't usually made public, and cities shouldn't beryllium utilizing them to get escaped tickets successful secret. He said metropolis politicians and unit who judge escaped tickets are profiting personally from a nationalist installation oregon could beryllium utilizing them to bargain relationships, if they're giving them away.

"This is truly profoundly unethical to beryllium doing this," Conacher said.

Kelowna, Prince George and Victoria way who receives the tickets. The City of Kamloops, however, does not. Kamloops besides stood retired for charging fees, requiring third-party support and redacting its escaped tickets from the contracts during the state of accusation petition (FOI) process.

The redacted documents were released connected Oct. 15, 2024, 3 months aft the archetypal request, and pursuing support of millions successful borrowing to physique a caller performing arts centre successful downtown Kamloops for concerts and different events. CBC aboriginal appealed the redactions, starring to the merchandise of the information.

CBC's probe recovered a noteworthy lawsuit of escaped tickets successful Kamloops.

City emails amusement unit offered 2 tickets to each game, amusement and lawsuit with drinks to the politician and assembly for the Memorial Cup, the nationalist title of the Canadian Hockey League, which came to Kamloops successful 2023.

The email said tickets were being provided to each of them by the big organizing committee owed to "significant support." Kamloops assembly approved astir a cardinal dollars successful upgrades to Sandman Centre earlier the event.

"Recognizing, approving and accelerated tracking the improvements Sandman Centre needed to support our installation up to day was the archetypal measurement and had those improvements not been done, the Memorial Cup would not beryllium coming to Kamloops …" the email states. 

"Christmas has travel aboriginal this year," added the council's enforcement assistant.

Kamloops councillor Bill Sarai accepted the tickets. He said it is communal for elected officials successful communities that big the Memorial Cup to person VIP packages to correspond their metropolis and invited tourists.

"We upgraded Sandman Centre to beryllium capable to big the Memorial Cup," Sarai said. "So, successful bid for america to bash that, yes, we person to walk immoderate money. Is the extremity goal, 'Oh, we privation to walk a cardinal dollars, truthful I tin get a hundred-dollar summons to spell to Memorial Cup?' I deliberation that's far-fetched."

City of Kamloops firm serviceman Maria Mazzotta said B.C.'s Community Charter prohibits councillors from accepting quid pro quo situations, with immoderate exceptions, and requires councillors to study gifts oregon benefits that transcend $250. 

Full-event tickets to the Memorial Cup were astir $600 each. Asked if helium reported the tickets, Sarai told CBC: "I was not made alert of the worth of the package."

Conacher said a deficiency of cognition doesn't exempt idiosyncratic from penalties associated with breaching the Community Charter and criticized a "loophole," successful which gifts are reported to municipal firm officers, not the public. He said if an lawsuit is important capable for metropolis unit oregon assembly to attend, the metropolis should wage for tickets. 

"Because different this is simply a secretive strategy of perchance trading favours and you person to cognize who is benefiting from metropolis assembly oregon metropolis staff, successful bid to cognize what favours they whitethorn beryllium doing successful instrumentality for someone," Conacher said. "It's a dangerously unethical practice, and the lone existent solution is to not person escaped tickets provided."