The Times Colonist reports this morning that Victoria’s McPherson Theatre is now being subsidized by property taxpayers by $30 for every ticket sold. Think about that for a moment – people who would lose their houses if they quit paying their taxes are seeing hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on a theatre that can barely sell seats. From the piece:

The city subsidizes the McPherson to the tune of $750,000 a year — which [Victoria Coun. Geoff] Young said works out to about $30 per ticket sold.

“I guess my feeling is that if I were convinced that this situation was going to continue to exist for years to come, my inclination would be not to support this budget and to pull the plug on this thing,” Young told Capital Regional District directors.

Giving the McPherson away would make more sense for Victoria taxpayers, he said. But because the facility is funded through the CRD, it’s not even been up for discussion at city hall.

“One of the options that we really should explore very seriously is giving it away,” Young said. “Giving it, in essence, to an arts group or a group of arts groups to me seems like not that unattractive an offer.”

It’s appalling. Mayor Dean Fortin wants to give residents free tickets to make up for the tax grab – how about letting those taxpayers decide for themselves if they want to support the theatre, rather than taxing them without choice?