The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

This Parliament enquiry into the decision of Hockey Canada to annoint Shane Doan as Captain of Team Canada at the World Championships in Sweden sort of reminds of the whole Clinton-Lewinski deal: An investigation into something that was nothing more than a precious waste of resources and a means for politicians to get their name in the spotlight. Instead of sex, we add a touch of Canadiana and make it about hockey. Kind of amusing, actually.

Back in late 2005, Shane Doan allegedly made a slur against a French referee during a game in Montreal against the Canadiens. I didn't know what the slur actually was until reading the Sun today (I just read it for the sports section, btw). Apparently Doan's teammate Curtis Joseph was upset at a referee's call. Doan's response was something along the lines of "What do you expect, they're French-Canadian". He was inferring they were biased because they're rooting for the home team (all four officials were from Quebec). He would have substituted "French-Canadian" with "Albertans" if they were playing in Edmonton. Point is, this is hardly an attack against the entire Quebec population. It was a comment said in the heat of the moment to calm down his teammate.

The NHL investigated the incident, and Doan was cleared. That should be it. But even though he was found innocent of any wrong-doing, many politicians still thought of him as guilty.

I'm no fan of Shane Doan, but he says he did nothing wrong, the NHL concluded he did nothing wrong so no one has any right to go back on this matter and drag his name through the mud. There are serious issues going on in our country: how about the war in Afghanistan? Maybe the MPs should be spending time discussing issues like that, not about the appointment of a sports captain for a tournament hardly anyone's watching right now.

I believe most people side with Shane Doan and the water will pass under the bridge. But in the interim, our members of Parliament should be embarrassed for even bringing this up in the first place.