June 30, 1999

Subsidizing the NHL - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

Recently in our nation’s capital, the federal government met with hockey officials from the six Canadian hockey teams to discuss some sort of financial relief for the struggling teams. Aid, whatever it may be in the form of tax breaks or subsidies, should not be given to these Canadian hockey teams. I say that not just because I don’t happen to watch hockey, but as someone who can see just what may happen. Sure, the amount of money is meager compared to a fast ferry boondoggle or a Canadian flag distribution campaign, but it just isn’t right subsidizing million dollar franchises in a million dollar game.

I don’t care that we’ve lost the Quebec City and Winnipeg franchises already or that we may loose Calgary and Ottawa or that American erosion is already taking place in our Canadian game. When the Stanley Cup final is played by Buffalo and Dallas, I don’t think it’s our game anymore and it really hasn’t been for some time now. Hockey may not be as popular down south as a Lewinsky or Baseball, but it does have its loyal American fans. Oh sure, maybe ratings on the Fox sports network for any given hockey game may pale in comparison to that of any given NFL game, it’s clear our game has already been infused into that great American melting pot.

If Ottawa and the Provinces want to bail out the NHL, well then be my guest. But, they’ve also got to subsidize and bail out amateur sport across this nation of ours. Watching Question Period from Victoria the other day, I was appalled that the B.C. government wasn’t spending a hundred or so thousand dollars in sending our athletes to the PanAm games in Manitoba this summer. A meager amount like that should be eagerly handed over first, rather than funding the NHL. This is professional sports and as such teams wanting to expand in the form of expansion teams should be wary of the fact that there is a difference between running an operation like the Calgary Flames and that of running the Vancouver Canadians. If they can have our game, then we can have their’s. And I don’t see anyone in government jumping to have the C’s back at Nat Bailey for next season.

If Ottawa and the Provinces want to bail out the NHL, well then bail out small businesses across this nation of ours. Recently, MP Libby Davies sent me a report on the ever-pressing problem of homelessness in Canada, I haven’t read it cover to cover, but just skimming through it, warrants my assumption that homelessness is a problem. Why not try and fix this problem, instead of catering to the bigwigs of the NHL? If the federal or provincial governments bail out pro sport in Canada, Canadian tax payers across this nation of ours will certainly suffer.

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