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May 02, 2007
Expletive deleted
I find it very odd that no one other than Macleans.ca seems to have clued in that the NHL's Colin Campbell went on record, after Doan-gate had been resolved to the league's satisfaction, with his version of events.
From Aaron Wherry's article in the January 18, 2006 National Post:
Colin Campbell, NHL executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, again resisted Coderre's charges yesterday.
"In our minds, the issue is dead," Campbell said. "There was no wrongdoing. And for this politician to pursue it, it's none of his business."
In clearing Doan, Campbell spoke with the player and held a conference call with the Phoenix captain and the linesman who reported the incident. According to Campbell, the conflict started with a comment Doan made at the end of the game to Coyotes goaltender Curtis Joseph, who was upset with the officiating.
"He came out and he was trying to cool down Curtis Joseph and he said, 'What do you expect, we got four French officials in Montreal?'" Campbell explained.
As Campbell understands the situation, the linesman thought he heard Doan use an expletive. Another Phoenix player, Campbell said, had, earlier in the game, used a phrase like the one alleged by Coderre and received a warning.
Campbell likened Doan's remarks to complaints made by some visiting teams when they visit Toronto to play the Maple Leafs.
"We've had lots of accusations by teams saying, 'Gee, we come to Toronto and there's four guys from the Toronto area or from Ontario.' We don't jump up and down and say, 'Hey, racism,' " Campbell said. "And no one thinks there's racism here."
I don't know if that helps Doan, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't help Coderre, who's been waving around the NHL's original report - containing the now-resolved linesman's complaint - like it's the arc of the covenant.
UPDATE: There now, was that so hard?
Posted by Chris Selley at May 2, 2007 04:50 PM
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Comments
I'm not familiar enough with Quebec politics to understand this. Does this kind of idiocy actually resonate with Quebecers? Do they feel defended or vindicated or something?
Beyond the entirely plausible notion that all of the politicians making an issue of this have the combined IQ of Shane Doan, I simply don't get why this is an issue.
Posted by: Mike at May 2, 2007 06:44 PM
Does this kind of idiocy actually resonate with Quebecers?
No.
Posted by: Chris Selley at May 2, 2007 10:58 PM
Shheesh - my tax dollars at work. What's an hour of committee time run these days ?
My message to all those pols - HAVE ANOTHER DOUGHNUT !
Posted by: Nbob at May 3, 2007 12:56 AM
If Quebecers feel that this is as stupid as the rest of us, then why are these politicians making an issue of this? I have always been one to argue that the polictical class in this country is rather underwhelming, but this simply escapes the imagination.
Posted by: Mike at May 3, 2007 08:37 AM
It seems to me that politicians do feel that this issue resonates with quebeckers. And although it is part of our political culture to pander to Quebec, this may very well be the time to say enough is enough.
However, with the conservatives perpetually trying to make ground in Quebec, and the liberals and bloc trying to hold their own turf in Quebec, it seems very unlikely that any party will be so brave as to actually come out and say it is a non issue, and that Quebeckers are actually wrong, in this instance anyways.
Posted by: lk at May 3, 2007 07:32 PM
Sorry to double post, but wow, Andrew Coyne has a good post on this topic on his site. He points out that by the Bloc pushing this, they are in effect making the rest of us agree with the premise that saying "f-cking French" is a racial slur against an oppressed group.
Of course, french canadians are not an oppressed group, but the Bloc sure would like us to believe so. Man, someone has got to put their foot down on this nonsense....
Posted by: lk at May 5, 2007 02:51 PM