Ontario just scrapped a ticket resale cap meant to keep scalpers' profits down

Ontario is scrapping part of a law that would have capped ticket resale prices at 50 per cent above the original face value.

The Progressive Conservative government paused implementation of that section of the Ticket Sales Act brought in by the previous Liberal government shortly after the election last year.Now, as announced in its new budget, it is cancelling the rule.

"It was unenforceable," Government and Consumer Services Minister Bill Walker said Monday. "It was like a lot of things with the Liberals. It was a nice soundbite, but there was no enforcement."

The business community had also pushed back against the rule, with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce telling the then-attorney general in 2017 that Ontario ticket businesses would be harmed while those located outside the reach of the province's laws would be undeterred.

'Just a cop out'

But NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the ticket resale price cap would have helped families.

"Maybe (Premier) Doug Ford and his rich friends can go and watchall kinds of sports games that they want, but most people struggle to even afford to go to one sports game or one form of entertainment a year," she said.

"Saying that it's not enforceable is just a cop out."

Watch: Inside Ticketmaster's secretscalper program:

Inside Ticketmaster's secret scalper program

6 years ago

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CBC News goes undercover to expose Ticketmaster's secret scalper program.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the rule was about protecting consumers.

"What we originally (wanted) with the bill was to say we want to be fair," he said. "It should be accessible to people. They
shouldn't have to pay two or three times the face value."

The Liberals introduced their legislation aimed at tackling "scalper bots" that scoop up huge blocks of tickets, after an outcry from fans shut out of the Tragically Hip's farewell tour. The Tories' changes leave the scalper bot prohibition intact and increase fines for non-compliance with the act from $10,000 to $25,000.

Other changes to the Ticket Sales Act in this budget include requiring primary ticket sellers to disclose how many tickets are going on sale, if the tickets are going to be made available in batches.

The Liberals' legislation originally required ticket sellers to disclose both an event's maximum capacity and the number of ticketsgoing on sale, but they changed it before the bill passed to only require sellers to disclose the maximum event capacity and the distribution method of the tickets.