Prime Minister Mark Carney says U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be afraid to make a World Series bet with him because the Toronto Blue Jays tackle the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I feel he’s afraid to make a bet. He doesn’t wish to lose,” Carney joked Thursday when reporters asked him a couple of possible wager as he stopped by the Jays’ practice on the Rogers Centre.
“He hasn’t called, he hasn’t returned my call yet on the bet so I’m ready,” Carney said. “We’re able to make a bet with the U.S.”
Earlier Thursday, Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford each predicted the Blue Jays will win the World Series in six games, though thus far neither has plans to attend in person.
Ford said at the top of a press conference at a nuclear plant with Carney that he could be watching Friday’s game from his “man cave” because he doesn’t wish to pay exorbitant ticket prices.
“By the way in which, those ticket gougers, they’re going to pay the worth,” he said. “We’re going to get to them, but I’m going to sit down (in) the person cave and watch the sport.”
Carney said he will likely be in Asia, where he is ready to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, so he joked that he would have to seek out an “Asian man cave” to look at from overseas.
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“It’s going to be a fantastic series, but we’ve got depth, we’ve got fire,” he said. “For some reason, I’ve got like, the world’s worst timed trip.”
Carney also joked in the course of the press conference that the U.S. has paused trade talks with Canada because “they’re scared” the Blue Jays will win the World Series.
Ford’s comments follow musings Wednesday that he wants to take a look at the problem of ticket sales, after Blue Jays fans complained of sky-high resale prices not long after World Series tickets went on sale.
Ford’s government in 2019 scrapped a part of a law from the previous Liberal government that will have capped ticket resale prices at 50 per cent above the unique face value.
Ticketmaster has said it appreciates the priority about high prices for World Series tickets but that it isn’t setting those prices.
“With so many Blue Jays fans attempting to get World Series tickets, it’s easy to grasp why there’s frustration over limited availability and rising resale prices,” the corporate said Thursday in an announcement.
“However it’s necessary to know that Ticketmaster doesn’t set or control ticket prices — and particularly not the resale prices which are justifiably getting a lot attention.”
The most affordable resale tickets on Ticketmaster for Friday’s game were priced Thursday afternoon at $1,105 for a general admission area — or $1,457 and better for fans who want their very own seat.
Ontario’s opposition parties are calling on the premier to take motion.
“It’s the resale value of those tickets that’s gotten super uncontrolled, and that’s why I used to be pleased to listen to the premier say he is likely to be willing to reverse his terrible decision when he first got here into government, to get rid of the protection for fans, and really take into consideration bringing back in laws,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.
Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said it was a mistake for Ford to scrap the previous Liberal government’s changes.
“The (World Series) tickets are already out, so it’s pretty hard to place that genie back within the bottle,” he said.
“However the genie would have been within the bottle if the premier hadn’t cancelled a law that we passed here once we were in government to make that higher, make it easier for people to get tickets.”
When the Tories scrapped that proposed rule in 2019 they said it might have been unenforceable, but Fraser said that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try.
–With files from Rianna Lim and Global News
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