Today a freedom of information response came in from Manitoba Hydro on the Winnipeg Jets ticket issue.

And it was surprising.

You see, unlike other crown corporations, Manitoba Hydro actually went out and bought season tickets. You see, Lotteries, MPI and the MLCC received tickets in exchange for massive ad buys - around $600,000 (see this link for details) - but they didn't actually buy season tickets.

Hydro on the other hand, was busy competing with Manitobans as they clicked the refresh button on their web browsers feverishly to try and get their hands on the hottest ticket in town. Little did taxpayers know, but our civil servants were busy competing with them; Hydro managed to buy a pair of lower level tickets at a cost of $6,952 in section P4. They also received a pair for their massive ad buy with the arena.

The other issue here is that unlike other crown corporations, Hydro kept no record of who received the tickets. They handed out  176 tickets, but no one bothered to keep track of how the tickets were distributed. Hydro assured the CTF in its response that next year the tickets will be tracked...but here's a better idea:

SELL THE TICKETS

Yes, that's right, Hydro doesn't need to buy Winnipeg Jets tickets - especially as our rates are going up. It'll claim it's a business and needs to entertain customers too, but the reality is it has a monopoly. When you have immense market power (no pun intended) you don't need to wine and dine your customers the same way other businesses do.

And for the record, we don't blame the Winnipeg Jets in any of this hubbub. The Jets, like any other business are going to try and sell their product to as many customers as possible. It's up to government employees, including elected officials to know that this type of expenditure is not appropriate and say "no thanks."

As the government moves forward with a new policy on Jets tickets, it should also direct Hydro to sell its tickets and stay away from "offside" decisions like this in the future.

CLICK HERE to view Manitoba Hydro's respone.