Harjit Sajjan showed poor judgement in accepting Eras Tour tickets
Although no rules were violated, politicians need to be careful about what they accept for their image’s sake
Cabinet minister and MP Harjit Sajjan faced blowback for accepting taxpayer-funded Taylor Swift concert tickets. (Christophe Licoppe/Wikimedia Commons)
Taylor Swift’s two-year-long, globe-spanning Eras Tour came to an end on Dec. 8 in Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium. There is no denying her presence in the music industry and pop culture thanks to her devoted fans, popularly known as “Swifties.”
Swift’s influence goes far beyond the stadium, reaching all the way into the arena of politics and social issues. However, if you thought endorsing Vice-President and Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 U.S. presidential election was the extent of Swift’s political connection, then get ready for a real headscratcher.
On Dec. 4, CBC News reported that federal cabinet minister Harjit Sajjan had accepted two tickets to a Swift concert in Vancouver, purchased with taxpayer money. The tickets were provided by PavCo, a Crown corporation that owns and operates BC Place. The corporation had been donating Swift concert tickets to food banks and other charity organizations to raffle them in order to raise money.
Sajjan donated $1,500 to Greater Vancouver Food Bank in lieu of regular payment and received clearance from the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to accept the tickets, CBC News reported.
While from a procedural and by-the-books standpoint, this is an open-and-shut case — no laws were violated, a food bank received a sizable donation, and Sajjan got his tickets — an ethical perspective highlights the shades of grey that overcast this situation.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, Premier David Eby, and B.C. Tourism Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert were each also offered tickets by PavCo — presumably under similar circumstances — but they all declined. Sim, at least, purchased his tickets out of pocket. Sajjan had previously bought tickets for the Toronto show, but refunded them in favour of going to Vancouver where his riding is.
Following a wave of public criticism, including from Opposition MPs, for accepting the tickets, Sajjan ended up not going to the Swift concert.
On one hand, an elected official accepting free tickets to a highly anticipated and expensive concert in his city — one of the costliest to live in — comes across as a tone-deaf act of privilege from someone who can very easily afford to pay out of pocket.
On the other hand, Sajjan’s acceptance also suggests how he was benefiting from his position as an MP and cabinet minister at the Canadian taxpayers’ expense. The latter accusation is murkier due to the greenlight from the ethics commissioner as well as the fact that it requires evidence of corruption going on which does not appear to be present.
“Politicians have to use their judgment and realize that just because something is not against the rules in a technical sense, there may be either a perception of wrongdoing or actual inappropriateness,” Neil McArthur, director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, told CBC News.
That is what happened in Sajjan’s case. He was offered something that many in the general public would accept but elected officials should refuse, like Sim, Eby, and Chandra Spencer did.
Ultimately, Sajjan hurt not only his reputation, but also that of an increasingly embattled and unpopular Liberal Party and prime minister.
With an election due for 2025 — or sooner if things go badly — assuming that there is a risk for Sajjan to be unseated, he has definitely made a case against himself for re-election.
