Vancouver City Hall announced Friday afternoon that it will waive a $500,000 deposit to the Montreal-based promoter of the canceled electric car race and festival, provided it uses the money to refund ticket buyers, vendors and/or
In one of its final moves before the civic election campaign, Vancouver city council has decided to waive a $500,000 deposit paid by the Montreal-based organizer of the canceled electric car race and festival, provided it uses the money to refund the amount to ticket buyers, suppliers and/or sponsors.
Officially known as Canadian E-Fest, the event was scheduled for June 30-July 2 and was to include a Nickelback concert, an environmental conference and the ABB Formula E World Championship race.
Organizer One-Stop Strategy Group (OSS) was unable to secure all necessary land use permits around East False Creek, so the event was canceled in late April. OSS lost its contract in June with UK-based Formula E, which did not include Vancouver on the 2023 race calendar.
“Questions regarding funds being paid or reimbursed by OSS to ticket holders, vendors, sponsors and/or other potential creditors should be directed to OSS,” City Hall said in a statement Friday.
OSS Executive Director Matthew Carter declined to comment when contacted by a reporter. He recently said ticket holders would receive refunds, but declined to say when, citing unspecified legal restrictions.
Clauses in the January 26 contract between the town hall and OSS, obtained under Freedom of Information, allow the town hall to keep the full amount.
“It is true that under the Host City Agreement, the OSS performance security payments are not refundable to OSS, regardless of whether the July 2022 event took place or not,” confirmed City Hall Senior Communications Specialist Kai-lani Rutland. “However, as the event ultimately did not take place, it was the City Council’s view that it would be appropriate to return these funds so they can be applied to refund and/or pay ticket holders, vendors, sponsors and other creditors involved in the canceled event.
The agreement states that the city has the right to draw from the escrow “at any time and from time to time” to reimburse taxpayers for any and all costs of the agreement. In case of termination of the contract due to non-fulfilment of the organizer’s obligations, the part of the deposit intended to subsidize local musicians and as many as 20 car charging stations for community centers is not returned.
If the event had occurred, the city would have been required to return the balance within 180 days of the event.
OSS was responsible for all costs of producing the event, including city engineering and policing. Choosing the first long weekend of the summer meant OSS was also on the hook for city staff overtime costs.
“[OSS] acknowledges that this is a late-stage event that has chosen a venue and date that are usually blacked out for major new events; specifically downtown over the Canada Day long weekend and rejected the city’s recommendations to pick a date that wasn’t “blacked out,” the contract says.
“Furthermore, the organizer acknowledges that it was informed that the selection of the Canada Day long weekend could increase costs due to resource constraints and chose the event dates knowing this risk.”
The parties agreed to “maintain an open book policy with each other” and to grant each other full rights of inspection of all records related to the event. But financial terms and terms in the contract were redacted from the copy released by City Hall’s freedom of information office under a section of the law dealing with fear of harm to a third party’s business interests. The Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Office has consistently defended the public’s right to see entire government contracts with private companies.
OSS also had to create a public benefit agreement. The city proposed that this would include employing women in occupations and Indigenous people through affirmative action and purchasing goods and services from “businesses seeking social impact and/or capital.” To measure the agreement’s community benefits and tourism and economic impact of the event, the city also required the hiring of independent third-party monitors to conduct separate reviews. If the Canadian E-Fest was held, City Hall wanted to know if it aligned with and supported council’s priorities on accessibility, diversity, equity, reconciliation and climate change.
In exchange for all of this, OSS agreed to provide City Hall space for community engagement and fundraising activities with a footprint of no less than 20 feet by 20 feet, “at a location with comparable face, visibility and accessibility to that of the promoter’s sponsors. “
The Green Party count. Mike Wiebe and ABC Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung co-sponsored the city council’s April 2021 proposal to bring Formula E to Vancouver. They did not immediately return calls for comment.
The deposit refund announcement came a day after the 2018 elected city council held its last scheduled meeting before the Oct. 15 civic election.
a day after the 2018 elected city council held its last scheduled meeting before the Oct. 15 civic election.
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