Sometimes I am puzzled. I look around and see lots of people who are all basically made from the same genetic material as me, yet why is it that some of my genetic cousins are insane? (I apologize for casting aspersions on all people with genuine mental health issues so let me cast my aspersion on Pierre Curzi specifically.)
This fool, ce mangeur de hot-dogs and the Quebec opposition language critic, is trying to stir up the poutine by suggesting that the Government of Canada uses its control over the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club to keep Francophone players off the roster. He believes the blue, blanc, rouge is some propaganda machine controlled by the Federalists. (This plot was no doubt hatched in the 1970s when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau orchestrated the Habs signing of Toronto-born goalie Ken Dryden after he predicted he would become a Liberal MP 30 years later.)
The issue of Francophones players playing for les habitants comes up quite a bit. Guys like Martin St-Louis and Vincent Lecavalier are often identified as players the Habs should acquire. For starters they are very good and secondly they are hometown boys. To be honest, why would they want to play in Montreal? All Montreal players are under the microscope all the time and the pressure is exponential for guys like them. Why play in a fishbowl when you can live in Florida, make $10 million a year and walk through the mall without anyone recognizing you? Alternatively, it’s not easy for other players, namely Brian Gionta, an American, to move his wife and kids someplace where not they have to learn French as well. While it is certainly an honour playing in Montreal, it certainly brings with it unique challenges.
But to suggest it’s a plot, I say to M. Curzi, c’est la folie. Perhaps he should go back to acting and drinking his Labatt 50.