Bureaucrats spend $700K in concert, circus, event tickets

Expenses include $24,484 for tickets to Come from Away, staged in the United States, Japan and Australia

Published Sep 20, 2024  •  2 minute read

Acrobats in Cirque du Soleil. Photo by Cirque du Soleil 2023 /Supplied

OTTAWA — Between Jan. 2023 and June 2024, federal bureaucrats expensed nearly three-quarters of a million dollars on event tickets around the world, including sporting events, balls, and concerts.

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According to a response to an order paper question submitted by Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale, $721,000 was spent — and then subsequently expensed — on event tickets by a number of government agencies.

That averages around $42,000 expensed per month.

“Just because the government is a circus, doesn’t mean bureaucrats should be billing taxpayers for their tickets to the circus,” Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano told the Toronto Sun.

“How does spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on tickets to events in Canada and around the world help Canadians who are struggling to afford their rent and grocery bills?”

The documents were uncovered by the CTF.

Cirque du Soleil shows were hot tickets for Global Affairs Canada, with the department expensing $7,347 for tickets to the Quebec-based troupe’s shows in Vienna and Seoul.

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Another $24,484 was spent on performances of the musical Come from Away, staged in the United States, Tokyo and Canberra.

GAC’s biggest expense was $20,000 on 70 tickets for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan Maple Leaf Ball, held in November 2023 in Taipei.

Export Development Canada’s expenses include $25,000 for two tickets to attend the 2024 Indigenous Prosperity Forum Gala Banquet, $45,000 for eight tickets to the Canadian Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s annual Black and White Gala, and $30,000 for eight tickets to attend the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada’s Canada-in-Asia Conference Gala, held this past January in Singapore.

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EDC also spent $83,000 for 12 tickets to attend a gala thrown by Fédération des Chambres de Commerce du Québec.

Expenses claimed by the CRTC include $2,195 for two tickets to the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards, broadcast from the CBC’s Toronto headquarters.

Some departments’ expenses appeared reasonable.

The Department of National Defence expensed a number of tickets for Cadets Canada members — $480 to purchase 48 tickets to attend a “portraits of nature” concert and nature walk in Victoria, $2,120 for 44 tickets so Air and Army Cadets in Halifax could attend the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, and $474 to purchase 34 tickets for cadets to attend a football game between Université Laval and the University of Sherbrooke.

As well, DND personnel expensed a little over $2,042 for tickets to three separate U.S. Marine Corps Balls in Oslo, Warsaw and Ankara, Türkiye.

“It’s outrageous that bureaucrats billed taxpayers $42,000 a month on tickets to sporting events, circuses, concerts, balls and ballets,” Terrazzano said. “Federal bureaucrats are already overpaid, so if they want to go to circuses or ballets, they can pay for the tickets themselves.”

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