Mayor Andrea Horwath, city councillors, their families, and over 50 city staff attended Tuesday evening’s private invitation-only concert performance by Earth, Wind & Fire at Hamilton’s newly renovated arena.
“I had a conversation with the City Manager,” Mayor Horwath said. “She assured me that she did the legwork in terms of the detailed policies and assured me that as we’re a sponsor of the event, that’s something that is a consideration in terms of the characterization of the items.”
Horwath stated the City of Hamilton was a sponsor of the event, and this meant attendance complied with Council’s Code of Conduct.
The City of Hamilton has not disclosed details of this sponsorship.
City Manager Marnie Cluckie said ‘well over 50’ senior staff members attended the concert, that it was a work function for staff, and all are required to complete a feedback form outlining suggestions for improvements to the facility and to city processes that support the entertainment district. Cluckie attended the event.
“This was done as a work engagement in terms of testing being completed in the facility,” Cluckie said. “We also used it as an opportunity to assess as we were walking toward it, what things might needed to be in place for the opening.”
“The senior leadership team in human resources reviewed and approved it.”
A request for the exact number of staff involved has been filed, as well as a request for copies of the reviews and approvals to attend.
Horwath agreed, saying senior staff and council members provided feedback to the operators.
“The idea was that people feedback,” Mayor Horwath said. “What did you find? What was your experience? What were the goods? Are there things that we can work on? It’s like a dry run that a restaurant might do.”
“In this case, the whole community was the family and friends, which is, I think, lovely.”
The November 18 concert was billed as a soft launch for the newly renovated facility formerly known as Copps Coliseum and now called the TD Coliseum, following an over $280-million private sector renovation that followed last term’s City Council granting HUPEG a 49-year lease to upgrade, maintain, and operate Hamilton’s three municipal entertainment facilities: the arena, the Hamilton Convention Centre, and the Hamilton Place concert hall.
Councillors state they were offered a ticket for themselves, companions, and they could distribute up to 20 more tickets at their discretion.
Council’s Code of Conduct prohibits accepting “any fee, gift or benefit that is connected, directly or indirectly, with the performance of the Member’s duties … except such gifts or benefits that can be considered incidental mementos or tokens of appreciation.”
Hamilton Integrity Commissioner David Boghosian ultimately interprets the gift policy, something he may be asked to do if a code of conduct complaint is filed.
Council: Who Attended, Who Did Not
Ward 1, Maureen Wilson: did not attend.
“I didn’t take the tickets,” Wilson said. “I didn’t want the tickets.”
She said she transferred her allocation of tickets to the music departments at Westdale and St. Mary’s secondary schools.
Ward 2, Cameron Kroetsch: did not attend.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to benefit from the tickets directly,” Kroetsch said. He said that he transferred his allocation of tickets to the Hamilton Music Collective.
Ward 3, Nrinder Nann: attended.
Nann said she determined accepting the tickets were permitted “by reading it that it was not a ticketed purchased event, and that the City of Hamilton is one of the corporate sponsors of the Coliseum.”
“I was testing the sound,” Nann said. “I provided feedback on the fact that my ticket didn’t allow me to get in initially.”
“So I was there in a testing facility and enjoyed an opportunity to listen to a legacy band.”
Ward 4, Tammy Hwang: attended.
Hwang attended, describing it as “the TD Coliseum VIP event” at Council the day after.
” Yes. I invited my immediate family and had also invited Jac and Pascale and their guests,” Hwang wrote in response. “As a board member for the Hamilton Tourism Corporation, there was an ask to attend and evaluate and test out the new venue. I thought this was a great way to see the venue as I had not had an opportunity to tour it during construction. This is also the opportunity to provide feedback to the HUPEG/OVG on the renovation.”
“I walked around the facility, tried to find seats, purchased food from different vendors, and noted opportunities for better wayfinding. During the concert I also made note of the seating arrangement, consulted my family on their views / thoughts of the venue, and also enjoyed the concert.”
Ward 5, Matt Francis: attended.
During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Francis said he enjoyed the concert. “I had a great time exploring the new digs” and said he had a “touching moment during a slow song with Councillor Tadeson.”
“I explored every corner … [it] is truly on-par with world class venues that are out there,” he said. “This is truly a world class venue.”
In an email response, provided before this story was published, Francis wrote, “This came through our Hamilton tourism development corporation. The idea was to work out the kinks in the arena so when it’s on the world stage, things are running smoothly and efficiently and Hamilton gets a good reputation. It would be an embarrassment if Paul McCartney arrived and the speakers are cracking, lights don’t work, toilets don’t flush and the concession stands do not operate properly. The optics would be horrible and we wouldn’t be able to attract future talent or clients.”
He wrote that he distributed his ticket allocation to “staff and volunteers.”
Correction note: the original version incorrectedly stated Francis had not responded to an email question. He had. The error is regretted.
Ward 6, Tom Jackson: attended.
“Yes, I did attend,” Jackson said. His wife attended with him. “It was just basically an opening preview of the new arena, a soft opening type of event, and that’s why I attended.”
The Hamilton Tourism Development Corporation said the tickets had no monetary value, Jackson said, noting the “actual ticket showed zero price.”
He said he distributed his ticket allocation “to volunteers in the community.”
Ward 7, Esther Pauls: attended.
“Each Councillor and the Mayor received tickets. I took 19 friends and family who were free that night,” Pauls wrote in an email response.
“These tickets offered a meaningful opportunity to see for myself (and witness the reaction of friends and family) what experience this new coliseum, which will be a tremendous part of Hamilton culture offers. I was able to familiarize myself with how the new seats look and feel as well as what kind of concessions will exist. This facility has already started drawing artists from around the world. It’s wonderful to see how it will be offering Hamiltonians and neighbouring communities a world-class venue for entertainment of various kinds.”
Pauls wrote, “The Earth, Wind and Fire concert, which was a dry-run for the staff and policing before the Paul McCartney grand opening.”
Ward 8, Rob Cooper: did not attend.
Cooper said that his constituency office distributed tickets to residents who volunteer in the community.
Ward 9, Brad Clark: did not attend.
“I chose not to attend,” Clark wrote in response to written questions. “To be clear, I and my staff did not receive any tickets and we did not distribute any tickets.”
Ward 10, Jeff Beattie: did not attend.
Beattie said his distributed his allocation of tickets to community volunteers.
Ward 11, Mark Tadeson: attended.
“Last night, I too attended the Earth Wind and Fire concert at TD Coliseum, had a great moment with Councillor Matt Francis during a nice slow song from them,” Tadeson said during Wednesday’s Council meeting. “We really were touched. And for the first time, I just want to say this, for the first time in a few years as I looked out and took in the music from the stands at this arena.”
“I saw joy and excitement and a buzz in the air. It was amazing. My family that came in from Toronto loved the experience and are already making plans to return to Hamilton to take in more events at TD Coliseum. I just wanna thank HUPEG, I wanna thank the Oakview Group for making this happen, and I want to thank Council. It was such a great event.”
In a written response to emailed questions, Tadeson wrote, ” I received and distributed tickets to my office staff and friends. The friends are all people that I would normally socialize with and attend entertainment venues throughout and beyond our City. The staff are my immediate office staff. I received the tickets from the city through my work cell phone and sent tickets to recipient’s cell phones.”
“It would be my take that the Tickets are incidental because I did not ask for the tickets. I was contacted through email by a city general manager’s office and offered tickets at no cost for EWF for the purpose of attending a ‘trial concert’ that would allow the operators of the arena the opportunity to review their operational procedures ( entry, concession stands efficiency, toilets flushing, security, exits point strategy ) and ensure all was functioning properly and efficiently prior to the ‘official opening’ concert this coming Friday.”
“It was a great night, I sensed there was lots of energy and a positive buzz of excitement. I was glad to attend and help provide conditions for the operators to evaluate their operational readiness to host future events. I think the event went off well for an inaugural re-opening.”
Ward 12, Craig Cassar: attended.
Cassar wrote in an email response that he “attended with members of my immediate family.”
He distributed his ticket allocation “with community volunteers and friends.”
He wrote that “the operators of TD Coliseum are important partners of the City operating a City asset. Councillors were among the many thousands of Hamiltonians they invited for a dry run ahead of their grand opening.”
Ward 13, Alex Wilson: did not attend.
“I did not acknowledge, respond, reply, engage,” Wilson said.
Ward 14, Mike Spadafora: did not attend.
Spadafora wrote in an email response, “I did not attend the concert.”
Awaiting response regarding if he distributed tickets.
Ward 15, Ted McMeekin: did not attend.
“No, I did not go,” McMeekin said. His constituency staff distributed the 20 tickets allocated to his office.
Production Details
v. 2.3.0
Published: November 20, 2025
Last updated: November 22, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
Update Record
v. 1.0.0 original version
v. 1.0.1 added Cassar response (4:35pm, Nov. 20)
v. 2.0.0 CORRECTION: Councillor Matt Francis responded by email before publication of the first version. The email response has been added to the Council meeting statements. (5:15 pm, Nov. 20)
v. 2.1.0 added Tadeson response. (5:35 pm, Nov 20)
v. 2.2.0 added Hwang response, and Clark follow-up regarding not distributing tickets. (9:30am, Nov 21)
v. 2.3.0, added Pauls response. The City of Hamilton is no responding to requests for the work plan and post-event reports. (12:30 pm, Nov 22)
Correction, November 20, 2025 17:14: Councillor Matt Francis responded by email before publication of the first version. The email response has been added to the Council meeting statements.
How much did it cost the taxpayers. Earth Wind and fire don’t perform for free.
Why wouldn’t our councilors be asked to attend! They are representing the people of the city. They clearly couldn’t ask the entire city. Why be a councilor if you don’t get the odd perk. Especially after having to deal with a bunch of sniveling, negative whiners constantly.
What a terrible terrible allocation of city money. The mayor and people in the council should be ashamed. Is this when they decided to throw up that black tarp across the street to hide the Salvation Army?
Also what credentials did Nrinder Nan have for testing the sound?! Is she a sound engineer ?!
I am so angry.
I wish the mayor actually did something for the city other than blowing tax payers money on photo ops and handshakes.
What a waste.
A terrible waste of taxpayers dollars. Governments need to be governed by a Board of taxpayers…. sososo much waste without accountability.
So the same individuals responsible for billions of liters of raw sewage dumped into lake Ontario, the same ones who are responsible for making life unaffordable for most Hamiltonians are being rewarded with free concert tickets …. got it.
How many tickets were distributed to the residents of the Salvation Army Booth Residence on York Street. This people have had to put up with the noise and inconvenience of construction for three years.
I noticed that nobody had anything bad to say, despite the glaring logistical nightmare it was. Nobody knew where to go or what they were doing. It took staff over an hour to get through security and signed in, and the management team had to stop the process to get everyone inside before the doors were scheduled to open. People aren’t getting paid, there are multiple areas where the work was blatantly shoddy, they are dedicating one of the two elevators for vip ticket holders, there is nowhere for staff to safely store their personal items, the food is priced like it’s the last of its kind on earth, and the odds of staff being able to direct you to your destination are extremely low because it’s overly complicated. There are restaurants that don’t provide a view of the arena from any angle, there are rooms that serve no purpose, and it feels like we’re never getting men’s hockey back, I’d be surprised if there was ice for anything other than Disney. Concerts are fine if they sound good, but this venue has terrible acoustics. The acts sounded off-key if you weren’t in the bowl, and the reverberation inside the bowl distorts the music. This is a sports venue and should not be nearly this hoity toity. If you want to act like you’re going to the opera at mervish theatre, go to mervish theatre. Curious council members are the least of my concerns at this point.
I sincerely applaud counselors who distributed their tickets to volunteers in their community.
There were many opportunities to spread joy to the less fortunate in Hamilton.
Checking out the facility?? *Eye-roll* Tax payors have already spent thousands to “test the toilets”.
You can do better, Andrea Horwath and counselors. Shame on you!
Who’s paying for all this. That’s not right. BIG money . Wow
Not sure why Nann has to justify his attendance?
I’m not condemning the allocation of tickets either, however, distributing 20 tickets to each councilor and senior managers could be viewed as shameful. Naturally, I’m disappointed with the whole process. The City operates many programs where we support marginalized individuals, just a handful of those tickets would have brought such joy to these individuals. I’m pretty sure we could have set it up as a research project and reported the findings.
I think you meant to say “her”. Not knowing this sort of dulls your entire comment. I’m not a fan of Nrinder or Andrea. I don’t agree with their politics at all, but you sound like a bunch of whiners. Shameful? Seriously? It was Earth, Wind, and Fire. It wasn’t Taylor Swift. It was a small-time concert. They went to it. Get over it.
I happen to know that Earth wind and fire aren’t cheap. Say you don’t know anything about the music business without saying you don’t know anything about the music business. Productions aren’t cheap. There were certainly a lot of wasted funds. How can you even argue that?
I guess “appearance of impropriety” hasn’t yet been taught to Howarth and a few of the other councilors.
Glad they feel righteous and qualified enough to somehow believe they have valued input over, I don’t know, industry professionals who would normally sing off on particulars before opening to the public.
Three alternative options that wouldn’t have come off lookingike usual Hamilton council shady behaviour:
1) Make the tickets available to city residents via lottery in blocks of two
2) Make the tickets available in a charity silent auction with proceeds going to a local organization
We need and deserve better from our Council. It’s time to stop decades of one debacle after another.
100%.
And to insult the intelligence of taxpayers by insisting they were working…
THIS