Petition Asking CBC to Broadcast Final Hip Concert Nears 25,000 Signatures / .@thehipdotcom .@Change

Petition Asking CBC to Broadcast Final Hip Concert Nears 25,000 Signatures

ORILLIA, ON -- Nearly 25,000 Canadians have signed Kelly McAlpine’s petition asking the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to broadcast the Tragically Hip's final show at the K-Rock centre in Kingston on August 20th 2016. Her petition continues to gather momentum as fans struggle to purchase tickets for the band’s final tour, which Ticketmaster made available to the public Friday morning.

“As you may be aware, Canada will soon be losing another patriot to cancer; who has honoured and contributed to this country in a multitude of ways for many years,” writes McAlpine, a devoted fan from Orillia, Ontario. "Gord Downie, along with fellow members of The Tragically Hip, have celebrated their love for this country through songs such as "Bobcaygeon", "Fifty-Mission Cap", "Wheat Kings" and many more.”

She notes the band listed reasonable ticket prices, but that ticket distributors such as Ticketmaster have appeared to “disrupt these intentions; making pre-sales impossible for fans to access, then re-selling at thousands of dollars.” McAlpine t believes the country’s national broadcaster can “make a tremendously effective contribution to Gord's vision; with all of our help.”

McAlpine is also asking that advertising proceeds from the broadcast be donated to the Sunnybrook Foundation.

As Canadians continue to grapple with the news of Downey’s late stage cancer, many have taken to Change.org find ways to honour the leader of one of Canada’s most iconic bands -- over 80,000 have signed related petitions, suggesting among other things that Downey receive the Order of Canada, and that a stamp be created in his honour.

Kelly’s petition: www.change.org/TheHipOnCBC

Honouring Gord Downie page: https://www.change.org/m/honouring-gord-downie