The mayor of Montreal is combining politics and hockey, and it seems to be backfiring.
This isn't the first time a Quebec politician has attempted to combine politics and hockey, but it doesn't seem to be going over well, even with those who were expected to support it.
On Monday night, the Montreal Canadiens ended a 104-year run by fielding a team with no Quebec-born players. Most people seemed to dismiss it as insignificant, but Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante is taking a different approach.
The Montreal Roster currently has three Quebec-born players: Phillip Danault, Jonathan Drouin, and Alex Belzile. Danault is out with an injury, Drouin is on sabbatical, and Belzile was a healthy scratch for the game against Edmonton on Monday night. The Habs have never had a non-French speaking coach or general manager, a fact that many French-speaking fans feel is preventing the team from hiring the best applicants for the position. Many people are offended by Plante's remark.
One respondent said, "The CH (Canadiens) made an effort and traded one of our best hopes to get Drouin," referring to GM Marc Bergevin's trade of Mikhail Sergachev, who has turned into an absolute stud for Tampa Bay, for the Quebec-born Drouin. Plante's initial Tweet got more likes than that one comment.
Another person said that young Quebecers do not want to play for the Montreal Canadiens because of the constant pressure from the media and fans to perform at a high level. That statement contains a great deal of fact.
The younger generation of Montreal fans appears to be more concerned with whether a person can actually play, coach, or manage a team than with what language they speak or where they were born. A non-French person will be hired to coach and/or manage the team at some point in the future. It's a question of when, not if.
| POLL | ||
Do you agree with what the Mayor of Montreal is doing? | ||
| Yes, combining the hockey and politics is correct | 0 | 0 % |
| No | 0 | 0 % |
| List of polls | ||
