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http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Heritage+minister+disses+Canadiens/2981911/story.html
By Mike De Souza
OTTAWA – Federal Heritage Minister James Moore is being urged to review his hockey history books after promoting his hometown Vancouver Canucks as the Canadian team to cheer for in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“The Canucks are Canada's team in these playoffs,” Moore wrote last Saturday on his personal page on the twitter.com social-networking website. “Plus, they're wearing those handsome Canadian Alliance-esque blue/green jerseys.”
Moore’s hockey trash talk about the Canucks prompted some criticism and amusement from Quebec-born politicians who cheer for the century-old Montreal Canadiens. Both teams are in the midst of a second-round series in the playoffs.
“This is the minister of heritage?” asked NDP Leader Jack Layton after the daily question period in the House of Commons. “He is supposed to know something about Canadian history.”
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau also quickly fired back at Moore on the social-networking site with his own tweet.
“You don’t have to like the Habs, but you could show a little more respect,” wrote Trudeau, who represents the Papineau riding in Montreal.
As for Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Quebecois leader appeared to be amused by Moore’s tweet.
“He’s absolutely right,” Duceppe told reporters. “Vancouver is Canada’s team, and I say that Montreal is Quebec’s team.”
According to figures released last week, the seventh game of the first-round series between the Canadiens and the Washington Capitals had the highest audience ever for a hockey game on the TSN television network, while in Quebec, nearly half of the population tuned in to the RDS television network for the final minutes of the series as Montreal eliminated the No. 1 ranked team in the NHL.
“I don’t know if (Moore) had any friends in Montreal before, but he may have lost a few,” said Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, who represents Honore-Mercier riding in Montreal. “We’re very proud of our team here and what they’ve done and we’re quite confident in the future. And you know what? The minister should not pick a (single) Canadian team. He should cheer for all Canadian teams because we’re all Canadian, even in Montreal.”
But Moore, the MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C., said his critics should “lighten up” since he’s cheering for the team from his own hometown.
Meantime, Layton said that the only Canadian team was the one that just won the gold medal at the Olympics. But he added that he wouldn’t mind seeing both Canadian-based NHL teams having success for the remainder of the playoffs.
“I would enjoy watching, as many Canadians would, the Montreal Canadiens up against the Canucks and that would be an exciting Canadian match, but I think he'd better go back and study his history books,” Layton said. “I thought the prime minister was writing a book about hockey. Maybe he'd better go and read the draft.”
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By Mike De Souza
OTTAWA – Federal Heritage Minister James Moore is being urged to review his hockey history books after promoting his hometown Vancouver Canucks as the Canadian team to cheer for in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“The Canucks are Canada's team in these playoffs,” Moore wrote last Saturday on his personal page on the twitter.com social-networking website. “Plus, they're wearing those handsome Canadian Alliance-esque blue/green jerseys.”
Moore’s hockey trash talk about the Canucks prompted some criticism and amusement from Quebec-born politicians who cheer for the century-old Montreal Canadiens. Both teams are in the midst of a second-round series in the playoffs.
“This is the minister of heritage?” asked NDP Leader Jack Layton after the daily question period in the House of Commons. “He is supposed to know something about Canadian history.”
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau also quickly fired back at Moore on the social-networking site with his own tweet.
“You don’t have to like the Habs, but you could show a little more respect,” wrote Trudeau, who represents the Papineau riding in Montreal.
As for Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Quebecois leader appeared to be amused by Moore’s tweet.
“He’s absolutely right,” Duceppe told reporters. “Vancouver is Canada’s team, and I say that Montreal is Quebec’s team.”
According to figures released last week, the seventh game of the first-round series between the Canadiens and the Washington Capitals had the highest audience ever for a hockey game on the TSN television network, while in Quebec, nearly half of the population tuned in to the RDS television network for the final minutes of the series as Montreal eliminated the No. 1 ranked team in the NHL.
“I don’t know if (Moore) had any friends in Montreal before, but he may have lost a few,” said Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, who represents Honore-Mercier riding in Montreal. “We’re very proud of our team here and what they’ve done and we’re quite confident in the future. And you know what? The minister should not pick a (single) Canadian team. He should cheer for all Canadian teams because we’re all Canadian, even in Montreal.”
But Moore, the MP for Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C., said his critics should “lighten up” since he’s cheering for the team from his own hometown.
Meantime, Layton said that the only Canadian team was the one that just won the gold medal at the Olympics. But he added that he wouldn’t mind seeing both Canadian-based NHL teams having success for the remainder of the playoffs.
“I would enjoy watching, as many Canadians would, the Montreal Canadiens up against the Canucks and that would be an exciting Canadian match, but I think he'd better go back and study his history books,” Layton said. “I thought the prime minister was writing a book about hockey. Maybe he'd better go and read the draft.”
[email protected]
