Report: New Ontario government shelves portion of anti-scalping law
Doug Ford was only sworn in as Premier five days ago, but he’s already made some significant changes to laws previously introduced by the Liberal party.
The new Ontario government has already put an end to the province’s cap-and-trade plan and residents 24 and under with private coverage can no longer receive free prescriptions.
Now according to a new joint investigative report from CBC and the Toronto Star, the Ontario government has “quietly shelved” a major part of a controversial anti-scalping law that’s part of the Ticket Sales Act that would put a cap on the prices scalpers could charge for concerts and sporting events.
According to the report, Premier Ford’s office confirmed Tuesday that the government is “suspending a portion of the law” that would cap the resale price of tickets at 50% above face value, which was set to take effect July 1.
In an email statement to CBC, Simon Jeffries, a spokesperson for Ford said, “The previous government attempted to institute a cap on ticket resales with no way to enforce that cap, resulting in less consumer protection.”
“We have paused the implementation of this section until we can review this provision in full to make sure it is in the best interest of Ontarians.”
It currently remains unclear when the suspension will come to an end.
Portions of the Ticket Sales Act still came into effect on July 1, including the ban of ticket-buying bots.
However, there’s no indication of what the new government plans to do to curb skyrocketing ticket prices on resale websites.
Music fans aren’t the only ones upset about the PC Party’s recent change, opposition leader Andrea Horwath took to Twitter Wednesday morning to call out Ford for taking the of scalper-bots, saying this move is a “step backward.”
Mr. Ford has taken the side of scalper-bots — helping them to rip off and gouge everyday families who just want to check out a ball game, or take their kids to their first concert.
Mr. Ford’s move to make Ontario’s events more expensive is a step backward. #onpoli— Andrea Horwath (@AndreaHorwath) July 4, 2018
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