Hockey, politics get emotional
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/11/2010 (5638 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
To those who dream of an independent Quebec, the creation of a separate hockey team is one more step toward such a realization.
The Globe and Mail wrote recently that Hockey Canada has authorized the creation of Team Quebec to play against national teams from France, Italy and Switzerland in the proposed Quebec Cup in August in the provincial capital.
Interestingly, a Hockey Quebec organizer says the creation of a “national” team is not an attempt at a political statement.
“We don’t do politics — we do sports,” Hockey Quebec director-general Sylvain Lalonde said.
And Hockey Canada’s chief operating officer has played down the move, saying that provincial and regional teams regularly square off against the national teams of other countries. All communications with any international hockey federations must still go through Hockey Canada.
But that hasn’t stopped Quebec separatists from taking something deeply meaningful from the creation of a Team Quebec at such a high calibre of play.
The team will be made up of Québécois players from the NHL and other leagues in North America and Europe who will suit up for a separate Quebec squad — something that separatists have hailed as a historic breakthrough.
Parti Québécois opposition critic Etienne-Alexis Boucher said talking about Team Quebec is like “talking about a dream.”
From our point of view, there’s nothing wrong with Quebec fielding its own hockey team, as long as it remains under the governance of Hockey Canada.
As one PQ member pointed out, Scotland is not a sovereign country, but it has its own national soccer teams. As Quebec has been recognized as a nation by the government of Canada, this should not bother hockey lovers in the rest of the country one iota.
But for Lalonde to imply that Hockey Quebec or Hockey Canada don’t play politics is misleading. Any time a Quebec institution takes an action that is separate from the rest of Canada and “goes it alone,” it has political implications.
And when you mix something as emotionally charged as nationalism with another national passion — hockey — Quebec separatists could not help but take it as a sign of social progress.