I was the 12,220 person to sign the Save Shane Doan petition advising our Parliamentarians to grow up and get serious about their jobs. This calling Hockey Canada on the carpet is an inappropriate use of political power that was instigated by the Bloc who are feigning an alleged insult to francophone Canadians. The claim is that Team Canada captain Shane Doan said something offensive to a referee at a professional hockey game - wait for it - TWO YEARS AGO!!!. It was dealt with then as a disciplinary matter within the sport and found to be noting but an unsubstantiated claim. You have to ask yourself why this is coming up now and being framed as a national political issues for God's sake!!!
Harper - is this what you expected when you pandered in the last election to the Quebec "soft nationalists" and the ADQ supporters with your notion of a Quebec Nation? Is your thirst and thrust for power such that you will wantonly sacrifice the reputation a high profile citizen in professional sport who is representing our country internationally in sports not less. Is this the way you will govern with a majority? It is always going to be all about your personal power?
As for every other member of every other party in the House of Commons who signed on to this feckless fiasco - how utterly common of all of you. Shame on you!
Please join in and sign the petition and tell our political "masters" (sic) what you think about their priorities and perspectives on the world. I did and felt much better for it.
Here is part of the preamble to the petition to give you some context about what this is all about:
"During a late 2005 NHL Hockey game, it was alleged that Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan directed an anti-French remark at the referee of that particular game. After an investigation by the NHL, Doan's name was cleared. Nearly a year and a half later, Doan is the captain of Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships. Amazingly on May 1 all four of Canada's political parties supported a motion in a session of the Canadian House of Commons requiring Hockey Canada to appear before a parliamentary committee and explain its choice of Doan as captain of the team.
While allegations along the lines of the 2005 one are no laughing matter, something isn't right here. It would appear as if a hockey player and the game itself may be being exploited for political reasons."
Here's a letter I'm submitting to the Edm Journal:
ReplyDeleteA Direct Energy salesman recently tried to sell me a long-term gas contract. Why would I lock in at $10.19 per gigajoule for five years, knowing that the Alberta government will subsidize my winter gas bill?
In 2003, I signed a five-year contract with Epcor (whose contracts were later taken over by AESLP) at $7.55 per gigajoule. It seemed pretty smart, knowing where gas prices were headed. Then the Klein government came along with its gas rebates which have now become a taxpayer entitlement. So much for deregulation!
The hundreds of millions of dollars frittered away on this program would have grown to billions by now in the Heritage Savings Trust Fund.
You can bet that companies exporting huge quantities of raw natural gas -- with all its job-producing liquids -- through the Alliance Pipeline, favour subsidies. If everyone -- not just those with long-term contracts -- paid market rates in a truly deregulated marketplace, there would be a huge outcry over how fast we're depleting that (now) nice, cheap gas.
Who is one of the biggest Alliance Pipeline exporters? Encana, which was created by the Lougheed government and privatized under Klein's and now plans to export raw bitumen (and hundreds more jobs) to American refineries...
Don B. Thomas
14411 98 Ave
Edmonton, AB
T5N 0G8
780-437-5175
dbthoma@shaw.ca
ps, Ken:
Something else that bugs me.
If the Stelmach government can't grow the Heritage Fund now, why do they continue to stunt its growth by not re-investing all its earnings? They supposedly "inflation-proof" it by retaining part of its earnings. Why do the rest of the earnings still go into general revenue??
I am glad to see that you condemn the Liberal Denis Coderre for trying to slur the name and good reputation of Shane Doan. However, Dion is likely too weak a leader to discipline the belligerent MP. Do not try and pass this off on the Bloc. It was Coderre who has again and again raised this issue and is, in fact, now subject to a defamation lawsuit initiated by Doan (which could be quite costly if he is successful).
ReplyDeleteKen, the liberals supported the calling of Hockey Canada to a parliamentary committee. You made a weak attempt to distort the facts (putting much more emphasis on Harper than the other parties, who equally supported the idea).
eric, what planet are you on? YOUR CONservative party was shamelessly involved in approving that team Canada must appear before the parliamentary committee.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that that all of the political parties looked like jerks. Parliament truly brought itself into disrepute.
All of this was done to pander for votes in Quebec.
There must not be a single Reform party member anywhere. Reformers have said diddly-squat to influence the media or Harper to stop pandering to Quebec. The only people left speaking are CONs like you trying to excuse goofy behaviour by saying you wanted Team Canada to have "its say". Yaaaa right.
I am amazed at what a shameless partisan you are. You can not possibly be proud of Harper on this debacle. If you are an Albertan you definitely must be disappointed with Harper's performance.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteWhere did I write that I approved bringing Hockey Canada in front of the parliamentary committee?
"The fact is that that all of the political parties looked like jerks. Parliament truly brought itself into disrepute."
I thoroughly agree and that is why I pointed out Ken's rather subtle attempt to distort the facts by somehow placing more blame on the CPC.
Anon, your arguments have highlighted why partisan politics stink. If any party opposed the motion, they would be labelled anti-French by the Bloc (even though it is a ridiculous claim, it may or may not stick in the minds of voters). However, I agree with you - the CPC should have ignored the Bloc, NDP and Liberals and simply put an end to this disgusting display.
I also wonder whether this whole issue would have exploded but for Coderre's active involvement in slurring Doan's good name. Coderre should apologize and Dion should discipline. My guess is that Ken either did not do his research on the issue or purposely left out Coderre's involvement.
It was the LPC should initiated the smear campaign - I just wish that the CPC decisively put an end to it:
ReplyDeleteCheck out this Hansard:
April 20
Mr. Marcel Proulx (Hull—Aylmer, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, Hockey Canada's credo speaks of sportsmanship, and the development of respect for all people by all participants. It also speaks of hockey opportunities for all people regardless of age, gender, race, ethnic origin, religion, or sexual orientation, and in both official languages.
Since there is now evidence that hockey player Shane Doan uttered racist insults during a match against the Montreal Canadiens on December 13, 2005, can the Secretary of State (Sport) confirm that she demanded justification from Hockey Canada for its decision to include this individual on Team Canada's roster for the Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Russia next week?
Mr. Marcel Proulx (Hull—Aylmer, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, Hockey Canada's mission is to lead, develop, and promote positive hockey experiences. Hockey Canada believes in the country of Canada, its hockey traditions and the pride in representing this tradition around the world.
Does the Conservative government condone racism in sports, or does it agree with the mission statement and credo of Hockey Canada, an organization that is partially funded by the Government of Canada? Does the Conservative government believe that these values should be enforced by all Canadian sports federations?
As I expected - reading the Marcel Proulx comments in Hansard above just confirms my suspicions that there is plenty of blame to go around.
ReplyDeleteOdd comment considering the way you loopsidely slammed the CPC (see below). This is the problem with blogging - you can really distort the facts for someone who does not have the time and resources to properly research the issue (such as reading through Hansard or knowing that it was the Liberal Coderre who instigated the whole affair).
ReplyDelete"Harper - is this what you expected when you pandered in the last election to the Quebec "soft nationalists" and the ADQ supporters with your notion of a Quebec Nation? Is your thirst and thrust for power such that you will wantonly sacrifice the reputation a high profile citizen in professional sport who is representing our country internationally in sports not less. Is this the way you will govern with a majority? It is always going to be all about your personal power?"