Watchdog Demands End to Free Concert Tickets for B.C. City Councillors

A democracy watchdog is calling for B.C. cities to stop accepting free concert tickets at public venues, following a CBC News investigation that found municipal staff and councillors have routinely received complimentary passes to major events — with little public oversight.

Documents obtained through freedom of information requests show that cities such as Kelowna, Prince George, Kamloops and others have received hundreds of free tickets over the years to concerts and events hosted in city-owned venues.

In Kamloops, for example, 40 tickets were provided by Live Nation to each of two 2023 concerts at Sandman Centre — including Bryan Adams and Blue Rodeo. In Prince George, city officials received similar access for shows by Elton John, Sarah McLachlan and The Tragically Hip. In Kelowna, city officials were allotted free tickets to performances at the Kelowna Community Theatre.

While some tickets were reportedly shared with media, nonprofits or used for promotions, others went directly to elected officials.

“Deeply unethical” practice

Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, said the practice is troubling and potentially unethical.

“These are public facilities, and if councillors or staff are getting free tickets, they’re profiting personally or potentially trading access for favours,” he said.

Conacher argues if city officials need to attend events in an official capacity, municipalities should buy tickets outright — not rely on behind-the-scenes perks.

CBC uncovered emails from Kamloops city staff offering mayor and council full-event ticket packages — including drinks — to the 2023 Memorial Cup. The national hockey tournament was held at Sandman Centre, where council had earlier approved nearly $1 million in upgrades.

“Christmas has come early this year,” the council’s executive assistant wrote in one internal email.

Councillor Bill Sarai, who accepted the package, defended the move. “We invested in the arena to bring the Memorial Cup here. This isn’t about a hundred-dollar free ticket,” he said, adding he didn’t know the full package was worth around $600 and wasn’t aware of the reporting threshold.

Under B.C.’s Community Charter, elected officials must report gifts over $250. However, those declarations are filed with city staff — not made public. Conacher called that a “loophole” that keeps potential conflicts hidden.

Lack of transparency

Of the cities reviewed, only Kelowna, Prince George and Victoria track who receives the tickets. Kamloops does not, and it even redacted the complimentary ticket clauses from its facility-use contracts in initial FOI releases — until CBC appealed.

Conacher said the solution is simple: ban free tickets altogether.

“This is a secretive system of possibly trading favours,” he said. “The only real fix is to eliminate free tickets. If it’s important for a councillor to be there, taxpayers should pay — not promoters offering perks.”