Carey Price learned that lesson last week when he weighed in on the current anti-gun debate roiling in the House of Commons.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on December 12, 2022.

OTTAWA—Hockey players should stay out of politics. Carey Price learned that lesson last week when he weighed in on the current anti-gun debate roiling in the House of Commons.

Poor Price should have stuck to hockey. He is definitely one of the best goalies in the business, but his depth of political knowledge is somewhat limited.

How else to explain the claim by the Montreal Canadiens that Price had never heard of the misogynistic massacre at École Polytechnique?

Their apologetic excuse, subsequently denied by Price, was that the event happened before he was born.

But that poorly-crafted lie inflamed the situation to the point where it even became a main topic for discussion in the Quebec National Assembly.

Price remembers who scored the winning goal in the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series, even though he wasn’t born when it happened. 

Price remembers the famous Montreal Canadiens record-breaking lineup of the Rocket Richard, Jacques Plante, Doug Harvey, and Jean Béliveau.

But for some reason, Canadian women’s history does not seem to have had the same historical resonance, according to the Canadiens’ management. 

There is nothing wrong with someone weighing in on the facts around gun possession.

As a gun owner, Price was speaking from a place of personal experience. 

But before he decided to become the chief spokesperson for the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights, he should have done a little research into the details of the subject.

The ongoing gun violence in Canada’s major cities obviously needs action. But that urban desire for action runs smack into a rural desire to continue recreational hunting and fishing. 

Any political move must balance the wishes of both, unless the government has decided it does not want to elect any rural Members of Parliament. 

Price isn’t the only one who is opposing the current gun amendments.  

The Saskatchewan Party is using the legislation as a fundraising tool, having already launched a protest petition called “Stop the Trudeau gun ban”.

When it comes to gun laws, even some Liberals and New Democrats think the proposed legislation has gone too far.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus has publicly attacked the government for amendments which include banning approximately half a million widely used hunting rifles that were approved for sale in the last batch of gun amendments. 

“I think they made some serious mistakes with this amendment and they have to fix it” was his blunt assessment of the gun ban extension to semi-automatic SKS rifles.  

Angus is right. Chances are the decision to extend the ban to SKS rifles was made by someone who had no idea of the political uproar it would cause.

The government has always argued that its gun legislation was meant to prevent mass murder, not to criminalize legal hunters. 

Many Canadians have actually purchased the SKS rifles in good faith as they were not on any previous ban list.

But the recommendation by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino that the government should buy back the banned weapons is not going to cut it. 

Instead, the cabinet needs to incorporate some political smarts into its policy-making.

If a key opposition voice like Angus, a northerner with a long and successful political career, can’t stomach the amendments, chances are they need to go.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that the current list of banned guns is being reviewed to ensure that it does not target legitimate gun owners. 

But Price’s inflammatory comments could encourage the government to double down on its position. 

The issue was a public relations fiasco for the Montreal Canadiens, who wrongly issued the original statement that Price did not know of the Polytechnique massacre.

He subsequently reversed that position in a social media post when he said he knew about the massacre of 14 women on Dec. 6, 1989.

On the eve of the anniversary, further outrage was provoked when the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights used the promo code “POLY” for purchasers to secure a 10 per cent discount on arms’ items from its online store. 

Price’s posting gave oxygen to the PolySeSouvient movement, which is lobbying for more limits on guns. 

Gun laws in Canada have proven to be political quicksand for successive governments in the past half century. 

It is impossible to table a piece of legislation which will satisfy both sides of this highly polarized debate.

However, if politics is defined as the art of the possible, the government needs to find a middle ground.

The best new gun law will likely satisfy neither side completely.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

Hopefully, the minster’s audit will shine a little light into the dark corners of hockey’s dirty, little secrets.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on July 18, 2022.

OTTAWA—Hockey is us.

When Canada’s minister of sport announces plans to get tough with hockey harassment, follow the money.

Federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge ordered a forensic audit into Hockey Canada last month after it was revealed the organization settled a lawsuit with a woman claiming sexual assault by eight members of the 2018 world junior hockey team.

The audit was intended to uncover whether any federal money was used in the settlement which the minister characterized as a “cover up.”

The audit must have hit a nerve because on July 14, Hockey Canada announced it was reopening the investigation. It issued an open letter promising a new inquiry into the allegations, to be led by an unnamed independent third party.

Hockey Canada also said it would require all players, team staff and volunteers to participate in mandatory sexual violence and consent training.

Consent training? Even the inclusion of that phrase should raise eyebrows.

This is not the first time that hockey has been asked to clean up its act. But with millions of dollars of federal subsidies on the line, apparently the motivation is more robust.

With assets of more than $150-million, Hockey Canada received $14-million in federal funding in the past two years, the CBC revealed recently. While booking a $13.2-million surplus, the not-for-profit organization’s federal support included $3.4-million in emergency COVID subsidies.

During the same period, the CFL was denied a COVID loan, which forced it to cancel the 2020 Grey Cup.

To put the inequity into perspective, according to Sport Canada’s website, minor football was funded to the tune of $605,800 in the last fiscal year.

That’s $14-million versus $605,800.

More than 20 years ago, as federal sport minister, I introduced a requirement for all national sport organizations to establish gender-equity standards for women in sport. Failure to do so came with financial penalties.

So why should Canada still be struggling with the issue of sexual harassment in sport, with a special emphasis on hockey?

Perhaps hockey is in a league of its own.

It is Canada’s nationally designated winter sport. Canada’s national summer sport is lacrosse.

Suffice to say that when it comes to self-image, hockey is the game we all love to play.

Except if you are gay or Black.

Current statistics in the NHL show that there are more than 2,000 professional players in the NHL.

Almost half of them are Canadian, but the number of racialized players is less than five per cent.

According to an article in USA TODAY, there are only 26 Black players in that group. Of that number, 20 are Canadian and six are American.

When it comes to gay players, the numbers are even more pathetic.

The first ever openly gay NHL prospect came out last year.

Luke Prokop became the first player under contract with the NHL to openly speak out about his sexual preference in a social media post, “today I am proud to tell everyone that I am gay. … From a young age I have dreamed of being an NHL player, and I believe that living my authentic life will allow me to bring my whole self and improve my chances of fulfilling my dreams.”

His announcement was met with huge support from head office, with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman stating that “anybody who is connected to the NHL … we want everybody to know that whoever you are, you have a place in our family.”

But Prokop’s courageous revelation was not followed by a stampede of others. He currently plays with the Edmonton Oil Kings, the junior partner to the Edmonton Oilers, and there have been no more revelations by NHLers.

The NHL does host Pride parties, in support of the LGBTQ community. But why has it been so hard to find a single NHL gay player among more than 2,000 on respective team rosters?

Is this who we truly are as Canadians? Why are we so complacent when it comes to the lack of diversity in our national sport?

In reality, the NHL is no longer only Canada’s game. Even though almost half the professional players hail from our home, the television audience and team distribution is clearly American.

Why does hockey still get top billing when it comes to government financial support, while the CFL was spurned when it came to Canada’s longest-running sporting event, the Grey Cup?

Hopefully, the minster’s audit will shine a little light into the dark corners of hockey’s dirty, little secrets.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.