TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) — In the face of an outcry from the business community, Ontario’s conservative government has suspended part of a law that capped ticket resale prices at 150% of face value.
According to the Canadian Press, the Progressive Conservative government paused the implementation of that section of the Ticket Sales Act, as part of its newest budget, claiming that it was difficult to police.
“It was unenforceable,” Government and Consumer Services Minister Bill Walker said on Monday per the CBC. “It was like a lot of things with the Liberals. It was a nice soundbite, but there was no enforcement.”
The Ticket Sales Act was passed by the Liberal Government shortly after an election last year However, the new law almost immediately ran into headwinds from ticketing services such as StubHub, which claimed it would reinvigorate illicit ticket markets.
According to the CBC, the Conservative budget also drops a requirement for secondary ticket sellers to disclose their name and contact information as long as they guarantee to provide refunds if an event is canceled if the ticket proves to be counterfeit or otherwise doesn’t provide access to the stipulated event.
The new Conservative budget also doubles the fines for non-compliance to the newly de-fanged act from $10,000 to $25,000 and leaves rules blocking the use of automated ticket purchasing software in place. As well, it changes the Ticket Resales Act to no require primary sellers to reveal how many tickets are going on sale and if the tickets will be sold in batches, the CBC said.
Some Liberal lawmakers took exception to the changes to a rule they say was aimed at protecting consumers.
“Maybe (Premier) Doug Ford and his rich friends can go and watch all 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,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told the CBC. “Saying that it’s not enforceable is just a cop out.”
