This is absolutely nothing new but a city that is trying to show its best side to an outside committee who will be comparing them in a competition to win the World Expo is absolutely the shittiest way to go about things.
I used to drive up to the Toronto Film Festival when it was still reasonably small. But then prices started to rise for tickets, the organizers wanted you to buy a year round membership and the hotel and restaurants were charging just ridiculous prices during the two weeks as it got bigger. So this does not surprise me at all.
