Olympics: Conservatives Get Great Seats

Last summer the Harper government bought about half a million dollars of Olympic Games tickets.

They got about 1,500 seats including some for events that most people really want to see – the opening and closing ceremonies, the gold medal hockey final, the figure skating and speed skating events and the ski competitions.

All Liberal, NDP and BQ MPs refused to take any of the queue-jumping tickets.

Half the tickets are going at cost to Conservatives MPs, senators, and senior public servant friends of the government.

The other half of the tickets will be given as gifts to people who “advance the agendas of the government.” The Harper government isn't saying what are those “agendas of the government” nor who are the people doing the advancing – only that they get free tickets.

Meanwhile across Canada, thousands of taxpayers are discovering that the good seats they hoped to buy are out of their reach unless they go to scalpers.

The Olympic Games people are not fools. They set aside a bloc of good seats for the politicians a long time ago. They know where their grants come from. They know too where they’ll be going for help should the Games rack up a deficit.

The most popular tickets among the Conservatives MPs (whose names won’t be made public) are for the gala opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies, and for the hockey final.

The government is holding more than a hundred of the $1,000 tickets in the “A” section for the opening ceremony. By comparison, the figure skating event tickets are down in the $420 range.

Heritage Minister James Moore keeps repeating that MPs are paying for their tickets. Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper, should he show up for the gold medal game in hockey – should Canada be playing – will have to buy his $775 seat.

The fact remains the Conservative MPs got prior access to the best seats at cost price. And they’ll have plenty of time to attend the Games.

Stephen Harper gave them all an extended holiday until March 3 when he closed down Parliament on New Year’s Eve.

That should give them enough time to get to Vancouver to enjoy their choice seats thanks to the foresight of their Conservative government.