November 13, 2008: THE TORONTO SUN

By: ANTONELLA ARTUSO,
      

Politicians who sit on the Toronto Zoo management board have been getting a free pass -- actually, hundreds of free passes.

Over the past two years, the six city council members have received 1,971 complimentary zoo passes.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, who represents Scarborough Centre, got 625 passes in 2007 and another 200 this year.

"I take the passes -- I put four tickets together -- and then give them out as prizes at our annual picnics, Canada Day celebration, Santa parties, skating parties, and things like that ... at my local community events," De Baeremaeker said yesterday.

"So overall, about 200 families per year or a little less than that get to go and visit the zoo for free."

Each pass allows an adult, child or senior to visit the Toronto Zoo for a day.

Regular admission costs $20 for an adult, $14 for a senior, $12 for a child and free for the three-and-under set.

Zoo Management Board Chairman Raymond Cho has received 430 complimentary zoo passes so far this year, on top of the 285 passes he got in 2007 and 100 passes in 2006.

Councillor Michael Thompson got 216 passes, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti 125, and Councillor Norm Kelly 65.

Councillor Mike Del Grande was given 25 passes in 2007. "I still got 25 (passes) -- I could show them to you," Del Grande said.

"I could have looked like a hero, just handing them out to people, then people feel obligated towards you. It's vote-buying, as far as I'm concerned."

Del Grande said he raised the issue of passes before resigning from the board earlier this year, but didn't believe there was much enthusiasm for dealing with it.

He said he was concerned there appeared to be no enforceable guidelines or policy in place.

The zoo passes handed out to board politicians over the past two years represent potentially tens of thousands in lost revenue to the zoo, which is subsidized by taxpayers, he said.

Del Grande said he was under the impression that the passes were supposed to be used for "unusual" situations -- perhaps given to an impoverished family who couldn't otherwise afford to go to the zoo.

De Baeremaeker said some of the families that receive his passes may not have been to the Toronto Zoo.

"It's like all attractions ... every attraction in the province of Ontario to my knowledge gives out free tickets to induce people to go there," he said.

"Your family may not go, but you won a pass when you went out to the Canada Day celebration, you visited the zoo, you loved it, and then you're going to go back and back and back."