Are you really surprised? I’m not. This country has proven time and time again that hockey reigns supreme as the dominant sport in the country. So should we really be shocked that a national election debate took a backseat to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs?
Hockey, like no other sport, has the ability to stop the citizens of this country in place. Case in point was the French political debate that was scheduled to go last Thursday night but because the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins had their opening game scheduled for the same night, the debate was moved to the Wednesday.
Yahoo.com reported that Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe said that there was no need for politicians to compete with the NHL. Duceppe added further:
"We all know hockey is very popular in Canada, and also in Quebec, and I think it would be a better choice to have that debate on Wednesday, so that people who like hockey and (will) have the full opportunity to see the debate and then listen to the hockey game on Thursday night.
"I think ratings are important," Duceppe continued, "but democracy is more important than ratings."
While democracy is extremely important, Canadians have proved that hockey is equally if not more important. NHL.com has reported that in Canada the CBC ratings for the Bruins-Habs game earned a 29 percent increase over last year and averaged 1.58 million viewers for both the Habs-Bruins game and the following Canucks-Blackhawks game.
According to the Vancouver Sun, a 2010 poll by Toronto-based ‘Research House’ has shown that 25 per cent of Canadian males will watch at least four hours of hockey a day and five per cent of men said they watch over 10 hours of hockey per week. Those numbers are staggering but at the same time, they’re almost predictable.
I myself have dedicated at least four hours a day to the opening round but I’m usually writing or editing photos at the same time. Sounds like an excuse, I know, that’s probably because it is, but the point remains that Canadians appear to be blatantly predictable. In a battle between hockey and politics, hockey wins outright.
Say what you want about politicians but at least they know what their citizens want. NDP leader Jack Layton agreed fully with the decision as well.
"When you have the Canadiens playing against the Boston Bruins at the same time as you have a national political debate, a very large number of people are going to choose to watch the Canadiens play," Layton said in the Toronto Star.
My question is, is this really a true depiction of Canadian life or just a case of strange coincidence? How many of people in St. Paul watched the Bruins-Habs game and how many watched the French debate? I can proudly say I watched both. Answer the poll question at spjournal.com and lets find out which event caught your attention the most.
