Galt Jazz founder pushes province to limit ticket resale prices

A Cambridge group is trying to push the province to move forward with legislation to limit prices on resale tickets. CTV’s Colton Wiens explains why.

The founder of Galt Jazz in Cambridge, Dave Ottenbrite, is calling on the province to make good of its plans to introduce legislation capping the price of tickets being resold in Ontario.

Ottenbrite said he wrote a letter to his local MPP Brian Riddell, calling for the province to pass the law.

“If we don’t push back a little bit, this is going to be forgotten. Mark my word. They’re thinking about it well, which means that after they come back in three months, it’ll be old news, and no one will say anything in this very lovely but passive province,” Ottenbrite said.

In October, when tickets for the Toronto Blue Jays quickly sold out online, only for some to be resold at double the price, the premier suggested his government might introduce legislation to rein in ticket resale prices.

“When you have one player in the market that controls the tickets, that’s not right for the people. So we’re actually right now considering legislation,” Doug Ford said in October.

On October 27, Rob Cerjanec, MPP for Ajax and Ontario Liberal Critic for Tourism, Culture and Sport introduced the Stop Ripping Off Fans Act known as Bill 63 which went through first reading at Queens Park. The act would prohibit reselling tickets for an amount that exceeds face value by more than 50 per cent.

Ottenbrite said while ticket reselling doesn’t directly impact Galt Jazz, it’s a plague on the entertainment industry in Ontario, with much of the money from the resales going to companies in the United States.

“I don’t like to see companies making money on the backs of musicians that have honed their craft for thousands of hours of practice,” Ottenbrite said.

“The Premier has made clear we’re examining the scope of ticketing issues and whether legislative solutions are needed.” Riddell’s office told CTV News in an email. “Our government is focusing on transparency, accountability, and results, not headline-driven gimmicks.”

“As the Premier said, we are looking to understand the potential issues regarding ticket sales and if the scope of that issue can only be solved by legislation, we will explore what our options are at that time. Individuals who are concerned that Ontario’s consumer protection statutes under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) have not been followed should file a complaint with the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery,” the office of the Premier said in an email.

The Ticket Sales Act in Ontario does ban the use of bots for purchasing tickets, but in 2019 Ford scrapped the portion of the legislation that would have capped ticket resale prices, calling it “unenforceable.” Ottenbrite said despite Bill 63 making it through first reading, he won’t believe it until it is law.

“It’s all fine and good to get headlines dumping, some Crown Royal on the sidewalk and, you know, being outraged about, ticket scalping. But it was Doug Ford’s government that made it possible,” Ottenbrite said.

Ottenbrite feels if the UK can the resale of tickets for music concerts, shows and sporting events at inflated prices, so can Ontario.

“Intrinsically, I think it’s just really wrong for people to get extremely rich just because they come up with a scheme,” Ottenbrite said.