In the news today: Tony Clement, Canada's Industry Minister, is going to have the federal government look into Ticketmaster. Allegations are that the concert ticket seller moves tickets into a secondary company, that then charges hundreds of dollars more for them. Clement is responding to people who are angry about tickets for Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen disappearing and then resurfacing at higher cost.
Well, Tony, pull up a chair. Because I'm angry too.
According to the Toronto Star, Tony Clement said, "I can assure this House that the government will not stand idly by when there is potential that companies are engaged in uncompetitive practices that are hurting consumers."
I'll wait for y'all to read that again. Tony Clement will not stand idly by when companies are engaged in uncompetitive practices that are hurting consumers.What a man of the people he is.
So, Mr. Clement, where the hell are you when Esso on one corner puts gas up three cents a litre, and Petro-Canada on the other corner immediately changes its sign to reflect exactly the same price?
Where the hell are you when a dozen eggs are $2.39 at A&P, and they're $2.19 at Sobey's, and they're $1.99 at Price Chopper, but gasoline is eighty-four cents a litre at every service station within the entire city?
Where the hell are you when CAA-Quebec sends out its regular press releases for its Gas Watch, where it figures out the competitive price for gasoline, and then reports on stations that are charging more?
Where the hell are you when gasoline companies raise the pump price immediately when barrel prices rise, but say it'll take weeks to bring them down again when barrel prices plummet?
Where the hell are you, Tony Clement? Ticketmaster shouldn't be gouging people on concert tickets, I'll grant you that. But when a few thousand people are trying to get into a Bruce Springsteen concert, versus the millions of Canadians who have to drive to work every single day of the week, I should think that you might just use a couple of your brain cells and figure out where your priorities as a government watchdog should really lie.
