“But you know what, man, keep your English, because we’re grabbing the Cup, and we’re bringing it to Montreal, and we’re bringing it to Quebec, and we’re bringing it home!”— from the French rant by Montreal Alouette Marc-Antoine Dequoy

While the 110th Grey Cup win by Montreal over favoured  Winnipeg was a classic comeback, it’s now being tainted by an issue that’s much older than 110 years. Canada’s bilingualism/ biculturalism debate. Having already relegated the game to cable-only TSN/ RDS the CFL must have decided that— who cares— we are in Hamilton, Ontario. Why bother with all that annoying bilingual signage?

After all, no one cares that the American band Green Day is playing at halftime of the game when any number of Canadian acts are available for the gig. Who’s going to bitch about a few advertisements? Reality check, aisle three. Language grievance is always in season in Québec.

As the French media covering the game noted in the days before the game the signage around the stadium was exclusively English-only. Didier Orméjuste of RDS observed en français, “The CFL is supposed to be a bilingual league but there is not one Coupe Grey sign in the stadium. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

The league crest at centre field read CFL only. Not LFC. Considering the efforts the CFL has made prostrating itself before the federal policy of bilingualism (for which it receives public money) it was inexcusable. It was a firing offence. Caught with their pants down the CFL rustled up a few signs around Tim Horton’s Field and led PA announcements with French. But the damage was done.

Which led to the impassioned rant by Als player Marc-Antoine Duquoy in the moments after the Als’ dramatic comeback win. He has since backed off a bit on his comments, saying “I just felt disrespected for me and for my province and for my heritage.” Since then Québec media has pummelled the league for its obtuse behaviour.

Anglo Quebecker Andrew Potter wrote, “The message it sends to Quebecers is this: If the rest of Canada can’t be bothered, why should they?” Memo to Potter: Not sure where you have been, but the rest of Canada dropped cultural football a while ago as a remnant of another time. They don’t care.

Let’s be honest, the official bilingual policy we’ve had was a dry run for the Carbon Tax. It has been a multi-billion dollar sinkhole foisted on the country by Justin Trudeau’s daddy. Like all top-down policies it is permanent and immutable. And useless at its stated goal. Quebec clearly doesn’t need it. The ROC resents it.

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Pablo Rodriguez looks towards Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they take part in a press conference during the COVID pandemic in Ottawa on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

In cloistered Ottawa it still has a political status that far outstrips its usefulness to the nation. While the Trudeau/ Singh cabal are slashing defence spending, no one dares divert a dime from chasing a failed dream of cultural harmony. At these prices, who needs bilingual postal workers in Moose Jaw? Or Anglo bureaucrats in Granby?

It currently serves as a fig leaf to protect the Liberal strongholds of Anglo Quebeckers and Francophone minorities in the Maritimes and Manitoba. In Québec at least, the majority francophones have steadily eroded any sense of language fairness in the province’s education, business or cultural sectors. The latest is a crushing tuition hike for out-of-province (read: Anglo) students.

The harried Anglos remaining in the province after decades of diaspora are like the white Rhodesians, voting against their best interests in the faint hope that the Liberals will save their dwindling numbers and make it Expo 67 again.

Living in Quebec, Duquoy can be forgiven for thinking that ROC is as obsessed with B&B as are the hyper-vigilant tongue troopers in Québec, who turn every slight into an excuse for more cultural purity. In fact, the ROC is far more concerned with Québec’s permanent dependency on equalization money at the expense of the energy industry it works so fervently to destroy.

The quid pro quo that underpinned the 1960s dreams of B&B— that acceptance of French everywhere would still Québec’s drive for sovereignty— is now Alberta and Saskatchewan pointing out the double standards in the current federation while asking, “Why can’t we make like Québec with a pension plan, police force and control over immigration?”

Hate to break it to Potter and Duquoy, but most in the West would gladly negotiate a new deal with Québec to re-shape the hollow dream that is Trudeau’s Canada. Keep hockey, but work out a deal the way Czechia and Slovakia did to live peaceably in their own way. Make Québec pay for its vanities while ROC hashes out a new working arrangement that reflects the current zeitgeist.

Yes, the CFL booted their Grey Cup presentation. From a business point of view insulting a significant part of your base was capotée. But in its ineptitude the league held up a mirror to the country that thinks you can make this potage of Canadian denial and American cultural pre-eminence still work.

Now, if we can just get Randy Ambrosie and his pals to drop Trudeau’s Diversity delusion from its values we might be onto something really valuable.

Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent.  https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx

Imagine the Chicago Bears being the NFL’s most valuable property? Or the L.A. Angels being MLB’s prime franchise. Or the Brooklyn Nets being the NBA’s strongest brand?

That’s the best analogy for the Toronto Maple Leafs (estimated value US $2 billion-plus) being the NHL’s most valuable franchise. Former Leafs hero Mats Sundin told Swedish television this past weekend that, from his perch in Sweden, the Leafs are the strongest brand in the NHL. The former captain of the Buds compared them to soccer giants FC Barcelona or Man United as a sports property. The GOATs of team sports.

And no one laughed. This despite the fact that the Leafs are the Picassos of pain since their last Stanley Cup in 1967, never reaching even the Finals in all those years. After decades of misery, their fanatical fan base couldn’t cheer home Usain Bolt in a three-legged race. By Sundin’s standards, however, they’re the equivalent of the Catalans and the Red Devils.

It should boggle the mind. In addition to their sizeable markets Barca and Man U have long histories of championships in their leagues and in European competition. Their histories are studded with great names like Messi, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Rinaldo and Wayne Rooney (among many). Their value is immeasurable.

But because of their market size (southern Ontario is now about 12 million) the Leafs can claim a captive audience addicted to their losing. And a never-ending cash box that defies description. It was therefore poetic that the Stockholm Syndrome franchise spent this past week in Sweden, being lauded by the fans of Tre Kronor. Toronto’s Swedish star William Nylander was greeted as a rock star. It was ramped up even further when the insouciant sniper— he rides the subways in Toronto— scored the winner in OT against Minnesota.

Toronto’s claim on the NHL’s first pew might have been laughable till recently. The undisputed soul of hockey has always been Montreal, home of the 24-time Cup Canadiens. The Habs were class. The Leafs were crass. Montreal was Jean Beliveau. Toronto was Tiger Williams. Wearing the tricoleurs bestowed a heritage on the wearer. Wearing the maple leaf was, as we wrote this past April, a testament to futility.

And yet, without winning a single honour, the Leafs have claimed undisputed possession of the brand as NHL’s model team. The decline of the Habs as a constant contender probably has much to do with it. Their 24th— and last— Cup was in 1993. Since trading Patrick Roy in 1998, they’ve lost their glitter.

Current Montreal GM Kent Hughes sums up the new reality when asked if the Habs can win without a superstar. “Everyone would like McDavid or Draisaitl,” he told Slovak journalist Martin Toth-Vaňo. “We’d like them, too… Do we need a star? Edmonton is at the bottom of the table with two of the biggest stars in the league.”

Sure, Kent. The Habs’ talent gap has allowed the Leafs to horn in on the belt as the NHL heavyweight. For the corporate set, at least, Toronto is the home of the English language communications industry. The people who decide the lineups for highlight shows and who to use in advertising live in the bosom of Leaf Nation, and the product reflects as much.

For some time eager investors have sought to convince the NHL that, like L.A. and New York’s tristate area, Toronto’s market should be shared amongst at least two teams. So far, commissioner Gary Bettman has been unable to create an indemnification plan for a competing squad that would satisfy the contented MLSE partners who own the Leafs. Suffice to say it would be a billion dollars-plus should common sense prevail.

So buckle up. Toronto has one of the top teams again this year. A Stanley Cup would not defy reason. Except… don’t you always satisfy your customers in business? It would appear that Leafs fans love losing. Why mess with a good thing?

Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes/ cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent.  https://share.hsforms.com/16edbhhC3TTKg6jAaRyP7rActsj5

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx