Ontario plans to cap ticket resale prices at original value

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is planning to amend ticket sales legislation to cap resale prices, seven years after it cancelled similar planned changes.

The legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break and the government announced Friday that it plans to table proposed changes to the Ticket Sales Act in the coming days.

“We are taking action to help ensure Ontario fans have access to fair resale prices and are not exploited by price gouging when they buy resale tickets for their favourite events,” Stephen Crawford, minister of public and business service delivery, wrote in a statement.

“With these new measures, consumers would no longer need to worry about being ripped off in the ticket resale market, and more families and fans would have the opportunity to see their favourite band or sports team perform live.”

The changes would make it illegal for tickets to concerts, sports and other live events in Ontario to be re-sold for more than their original cost.

Ford’s government in 2019 scrapped part of a law from the previous Liberal government that would have capped ticket resale prices at 50 per cent above the original face value.

But the issue caught Ford’s attention during the Blue Jays’ World Series run last year, when fans complained about sky-high resale prices for tickets soon after they went on sale.

“People shouldn’t be gouged, and that’s what’s happening right now, no matter if it’s the World Series or a concert comes in,” Ford said in October.

An executive at SeatGeek, which operates as a primary ticket seller and has a secondary resale marketplace, said the proposed measures could have unintended consequences.

“Controls won’t eliminate consumer demand — they shift costs in ways that are harder to see, whether through higher base prices or fees buried elsewhere in the transaction,” vice-president of government affairs Joe Freeman wrote in a statement.

“And they consolidate power in the hands of dominant players like Live Nation-Ticketmaster, who benefit most when independent resale platforms are pushed out of the market.”

The executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum, a coalition of ticket sites including StubHub and SeatGeek, said the proposed measures would crack down on the resale market while leaving primary sellers to increase prices without oversight.

“This terribly flawed proposal will reduce access to tickets for popular events on reliable platforms that come with guarantees and protections,” Brian Berry wrote in a statement.

The rules would be unenforceable and built on a false premise, the Ticket Policy Forum statement said.

“Legislating around high-demand outlier events — like World Series games or Taylor Swift concerts — is poor public policy,” they wrote.

“The overwhelming majority of events do not sell out, and consumers already have abundant options at accessible prices through both primary and secondary markets.”

Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, said it supports the proposed measures.

“We are in favour of measures that promote fair, transparent ticketing and curb exploitative resale practices,” the company wrote in a statement.

“We welcome ongoing conversations with the government to continue safeguarding artists and fans while keeping live events accessible.”

NDP critic Kristyn Wong-Tam said Ford should have made the changes long ago.

“Blue Jays fans had to pay ridiculous prices to see the World Series, and now FIFA World Cup attendees face the same reality,” Wong-Tam wrote in a statement.

“The Ford government must take meaningful action, and provide a solution that can’t be circumvented by ticket resellers. Ontarians deserve a government that will protect them from exploitative pricing.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press