In one of its last moves before the general election campaign, Vancouver city council decided to waive a $500,000 deposit paid by the promoter of the canceled Montreal-based electric car race and festival, on the condition that it use the money to refund ticket buyers, suppliers and/or sponsors. Officially known as Canadian E-Fest, the event was scheduled for June 30-July 2 and would include a Nickelback concert, an environmental conference and the ABB Formula E World Championship race. Promoter One-Stop Strategy Group (OSS) failed to secure all necessary land use permits around East False Creek, so the event was canceled at the end of April. OSS lost its contract in June with UK-based Formula E, which did not include Vancouver on its 2023 race calendar. “Questions regarding funds paid or refunded by OSS to ticket holders, vendors, sponsors and/or other potential creditors should be directed to OSS,” Friday’s town hall release said. OSS CEO 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, allowed the town hall to keep the full amount. “It is correct that under the Host City Agreement, OSS’s performance security payments were not returned to OSS whether or not the July 2022 event took place,” confirmed City Hall Senior Communications Specialist Kai-lani Rutland. “However, as the event ultimately did not take place, it was the council’s view that it would be appropriate to return these funds so that they could be used to reimburse and/or pay ticket holders, suppliers, sponsors and other creditors who involved with the canceled event. The agreement said the city had the right to assume the deposit “at any time and from time to time” to reimburse taxpayers for any and all costs under the agreement. In the event of termination of the agreement due to the organizer’s default, the part of the advance intended to subsidize local musicians and up to 20 car charging stations for community centers was non-refundable. If the event had occurred, the city would have been required to repay any balance within 180 days of the event. OSS was responsible for all production costs of the event, including city engineering and policing. Choosing the first weekend of the summer meant OSS was also on the hook for city staff overtime. “[OSS] acknowledges that this is a “late presence” event that has chosen a location and date that is usually black for new major events. Specifically, the downtown core on Canada Day weekend and has rejected the city’s recommendations to select a date that is not ‘blacked out,’” the convention said. “Furthermore, the organizer acknowledges that it was advised that the selection of Canada Day weekend could increase costs due to resource constraints and selected the event dates in awareness of this risk.” The parties agreed to “maintain an open book policy between themselves” and to grant each other full inspection rights to all records related to the incident. However, the financial terms and timetables of the contract were amended from the copy released by the town hall’s FOI office, under a section of the law dealing with fear of harm to the business interests of third parties. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has consistently supported the public’s right to see entire government contracts with private companies. OSS also had to create a Community Benefits Agreement. The city proposed to include affirmative action hiring women in occupations and indigenous peoples and sourcing goods and services from “social impact and/or equity-seeking businesses.” To measure the community benefits agreement and the 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 had taken place, city hall ultimately wanted to know if it aligned with and supported council’s priorities on affordability, diversity, equity, reconciliation and climate change. In exchange for all of this, OSS agreed to provide town hall space for community and fundraising activities with a footprint of no less than 20 feet by 20 feet, “at a location that has similar frontage, visibility and accessibility to that of the sponsoring promoter . “ Green Party. Mike Wiebe and ABC Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung backed the April 2021 city council proposal to bring Formula E to Vancouver. They did not immediately respond for comment. The advance refund announcement came the day after the elected city council’s last scheduled meeting of 2018 before the Oct. 15 municipal election. one day after the last scheduled meeting of the 2018 elected city council before the Oct. 15 municipal election.
