Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticizes World Series ticket ‘gouging’
Original Publication Date: October 22, 2025 12:17PM
Publication Updated: October 22, 2025 1:20PM
TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is looking at the issue of ticket sales, after Blue Jays fans complained of sky-high resale prices not long after World Series tickets went on sale.
Game 1 comes to Toronto on Friday and home game tickets quickly sold out Tuesday, with resale tickets being priced at many thousands of dollars.
Ford said he wants to review the issue.
“My personal opinion … they’re gouging the people,” he said Wednesday outside his office at the legislature. “When you have one player in the market that controls the tickets, that’s not right for the people.”
Ticketmaster did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the government should bring that back.
“We asked for this when it came to the Taylor Swift concert,” she said. “We need the government to take action.”
Issues surrounding ticket sales also came to the fore surrounding Taylor Swift’s concerts last year, with tickets quickly selling out and resale tickets going for many times the face value.
The former Liberal government introduced their legislation aimed at tackling “scalper bots” that scoop up huge blocks of tickets, after an outcry from fans shut out of the Tragically Hip’s farewell tour in 2016.
Ticket resale site StubHub had warned that artificially controlling a global market would lead to resales being “driven off of secure channels” into the black market.
The Liberals called Wednesday on the government to reinstate their law.
“Doug Ford needs to learn that actions have consequences,” tourism, culture and sport critic Rob Cerjanec wrote in a statement.
“He scrapped this policy, and now thousands of Ontarians who wanted to see the Blue Jays in the World Series are priced out. If the premier brings back the cap on resale tickets, it’ll be his best flip-flop yet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2025.
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