Trudeau snagged Taylor Swift tickets directly from tour promoter: PMO

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office confirmed he acquired tickets to see Taylor Swift in Toronto directly from the company managing her Eras Tour, but is keeping quiet about the exact price he paid, saying only that he paid in full.

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He also consulted with the federal ethics commissioner, according to spokeswoman Jenna Ghassabeh.

The Prime Minister’s Office is providing more details about how Trudeau secured his tickets to the coveted event on Nov.22, one of six sold out shows she played in Toronto, after initially refusing to do, saying only that he paid for them himself.

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That silence prompted the Opposition Conservatives to demand that the prime minister divulge how much he paid, with Michael Barrett, the party’s ethics critic, saying in a statement that he questioned whether Trudeau paid the same price as other Canadians, “or did he get a special discount?”

“The prime minister bought his tickets directly from the tour management company,” Ghassabeh said in a statement on Friday.

“The ethics commissioner’s office was proactively consulted and informed throughout the process. The tour management company is the organizer of the event.  When the prime minister attends a large event like this one, we typically work with the event organizers directly in order to appropriately manage security and logistics.”

His office, however, did not respond to questions about how much he paid per ticket and how many he purchased, including for his security detail, which accompanies the prime minister when he is in public.

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“The prime minister paid full retail price,” Ghassabeh added.

Videos from fellow concert-goers show the prime minister dancing and exchanging friendship bracelets with fellow fans, also known as “Swifties.” Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, whom he separated from last year, also posted on Instagram about attending the concert with one of their children.

Trudeau is hardly the first public figure to appear at Swift’s widely successful tour, which wrapped in Vancouver earlier this month and raked in a historic $2-billion since kicking off last year.

Among others who descended on her Toronto shows were Bill and Hillary Clinton along with their daughter and grandchildren. Other celebrities also made appearances, including Elisabeth Moss of The Handmaid’s Tale fame.

Questions about how Trudeau made his way onto that list were raised following controversy over Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan having accepted, defended and then ultimately declined some taxpayer-funded tickets to attend one of Swift’s Vancouver performances, from the B.C. Crown corporation which owned the venue.

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Scoring tickets to one of Swift’s Canadian performances was notoriously difficult for fans, with many complaining about individuals reselling their tickets for upwards of $10,000, and demanding the government take action against such outrageous prices.

A spokesperson for the federal ethics commissioner says it does not discuss conversations it had with any public office holders.

“All the information that the commissioner is authorized to make public is in the public registry. However, as it has been publicly stated by the PMO that the prime minister personally paid for his tickets, they are not something that would show up in the registry as a gift,” wrote Melanie Rushworth. 

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