Fans want Cancon quota for NHL

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This article was published 25/09/2010 (5724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new nationwide survey of Canadians’ views on hockey — including the composition of Canada’s NHL teams — shows a majority of citizens think the six clubs in this country should have a quota of Canadian-born players.

And that feeling unsurprisingly is particularly strong in Quebec, where a political controversy arose recently over the shortage of French-Canadian players on the roster of the Montreal Canadiens.

Nationally, 53 per cent of the respondents in a survey commissioned by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies said they agreed with the idea that Canadian-based NHL teams should have a minimum percentage of Canadian players.

Notably, 61 per cent of women surveyed supported a quota system, while only 44 per cent of men backed the idea.

But an even sharper difference of opinion emerged between French- and English-Canadian respondents.

Nearly three-quarters of the French speakers polled — 72 per cent — agreed with having a minimum percentage of Canadian players on the country’s six NHL teams: the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.

Only 46 per cent of English-speaking respondents felt the same way.

On a geographic basis — which closely reflects the country’s linguistic profile because of the high number of French speakers in Quebec — the province the Canadiens call home was by far the most supportive of a Canadian-content quota for NHL teams.

While 69 per cent of Quebec respondents agreed with the concept, support was lower but still significant in other parts of the country: Atlantic Canada (54 per cent), Alberta (51 per cent), B.C. (47 per cent), Ontario (46 per cent) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (45 per cent).

“In Quebec,” ACS executive director Jack Jedwab told Postmedia News, “the ethnic dimension of this is very important.”

Two weeks ago, Parti Québécois language critic Pierre Curzi sparked a lively debate after suggesting a federalist conspiracy was responsible for the low number of French-Canadian players suiting up for the Habs this year.

“I don’t get paranoid about conspiracies, but I say that when the biggest symbol of our identity — namely the Montreal Canadiens hockey team — does not play any more francophones when you go there: That is damned well political,” Curzi said.

La Presse sports columnist Réjean Tremblay had earlier described forward Maxim Lapierre as the Canadiens’ “token Quebecer.”

Jedwab said the survey results make clear that Curzi has “tapped into a genuine feeling” in Quebec that significant French-Canadian representation on the Montreal club — the most successful franchise in NHL history — is imperative.

Two other survey questions made clear just how serious Quebec residents are about making sure the Canadiens always have a significant contingent of homegrown players.

When respondents were asked if a Canadian quota should be enforced, even if it meant their favourite Canadian team lost more games, 49 per cent of Quebec respondents said yes — significantly more than those in Atlantic Canada (39 per cent), Ontario and B.C. (26 per cent), Alberta (25 per cent) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (23 per cent).

And when specifically asked if the Montreal Canadiens should have a minimum number of Quebec-born players, survey respondents from Quebec were strongly in favour (64 per cent) while support elsewhere was low: Atlantic Canada (27 per cent), Ontario (21 per cent), Alberta (20 per cent), B.C. (16 per cent) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (14 per cent).

The results, said Jedwab, “put the Montreal Canadiens in a quandary,” as the team’s owner tries to build a Stanley Cup contender with the knowledge that many fans seem to consider French-Canadian ancestry — not just hockey skills — to be an important factor in the team’s composition.

While French-Canadian hockey players have always been among the biggest stars of the sport, the spread of the game around the world — perhaps leading to the growing talent pools in the U.S., Russia, Sweden, Finland and elsewhere — has made it harder for Canadians in general to dominate professional hockey as much as they did just a few decades ago.

Still, the ACS survey also showed a significant majority of Canadians (70 per cent) believe Canadian hockey players are the best in the world.

The survey of 1,500 Canadians was conducted by Leger Marketing from Sept. 20-23. The results are considered accurate to within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

— Postmedia News