The first thing I want to say in response is that the policy is different for members of the House and for public office holders. It's not the same policy. It's different in two regards.
To take the easier one first,
one that does not require a great deal of thinking,
there's the question of the members of the House. Here the requirement is that any gift worth $500 or more be publicly declared. A hockey ticket or a series of them would be a gift and would need to be publicly declared if the accumulated value of the gift over a 12-month period was $500 or more. In that case, it would simply need to be declared and we would put it on the public registry.
For public office holders, the requirements are a lot more stringent in two respects. First of all, the number is $200 rather than $500; and secondly, we ask additional questions. It isn't enough to just disclose the gift. We want to know, for example, whether the donor is doing business with the federal government--as you mentioned is a possibility--or whether there are contract negotiations going on between the sponsor of the gift and whoever is being asked to come. So we ask a more difficult set of questions, where it is a matter of judgment and not just a matter of whether the gift is $200 or more over a 12-month period.
So that is the policy. Certainly, if a particular individual were to ask in advance we would be glad to give him our opinion on whether this was acceptable or not, depending on whether it was a public officer or a member of the House.
I hesitate to comment on the particular case you made. I also read the paper this morning, so I have that information. But it wouldn't be sufficient for me to make a comment now.