Bruce Dowbiggin
How Friends In High Places Protected A Felon

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The current controversy over Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual abuse allegations— exacerbated by HC’s Scott Smith handing out gold medals to Canada’s world champion women’s team— is not the first time the organization has been plunged into disrepute.
When it was revealed in the mid-1990s that Hockey Canada’s director of international hockey Alan Eagleson had serially defrauded, cheated, embezzled and betrayed the trust of his clients and members the revelation hit like a thunderbolt well beyond the hockey community. Pitiful pensions for Gordie Howe, self dealing at Hockey Canada, stealing players’ disability insurance were just a few of the disgraces for the original NHL Players Association director.
But an upcoming new book reveals that, despite the public outrage about his behaviour, Eagleson was protected and coddled by the highest echelons of Canadian business, politics, justice and media— right up to the Canadian prime minister’s office. In John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada’s 17th Prime Minister (Sutherland House) author Steve Paikin recounts how Turner would explode on anyone speaking ill of the convicted felon.
“He’s my f***ing friend,” Turner would say. “He made a mistake, and I won’t f***ing hear any more of this… I don’t want to f***ing hear of it.”
Made a mistake? Eagleson’s Bernie Madoff act covered a quarter century of hundreds of acts of self dealing and fraud— all buried by compliant media and reluctant police. We had a front-row seat for the charade from 1991, the year former star player Carl Brewer and his partner Sue Foster began pulling back the curtains on his former agent and union leader for us. (For more, see our two books Defence Never Rests and Money Players at brucedowbigginbooks.ca)
Together with the late Russ Conway of the Lawrence Eagle Tribune we uncovered a pattern of Eagleson putting himself— and the NHL— ahead of his solemn duty to the players he represented. Whether it was pocketing the disability insurance of former client/ Vancouver GM Mike Gillis or seizing Hockey Canada travel benefits from the players who sacrificed for Team Canada in 1972-91, Eagleson rarely let a deal go by without carving out something for himself.
His law office— complete with downtown Toronto parking— was paid for by the NHLPA. He orchestrated fraudulent bargaining sessions between the NHLPA and the league. He lent union money to business partners, receiving prime real estate in the Collingwood, Ontario, area. He received a flat in downtown London, England, from insurance executives. And much, much more.
He made a mistake, Mr. Turner?
The entire process was backstopped by intimidation. When he sued us unsuccessfully for libel, Eagleson was never shy about letting people know he was supported by Turner, Supreme Court justices John Sopinka and Bud Estey, business executives like Hal Jackman and a raft of political pals from his days as an Ontario Conservatives party hack. And that the NHL was his pal, not his adversary.
If you were a player who got too inquisitive, a nosey agent or a media member with questions about where the money was going you knew you could lose your job if you got too close to the truth. While reporters like TSN’s Rick Westhead are now justly celebrated, we were ostracized in the tight hockey community of the 90s for taking the word of Bobby Orr over Eagleson on how the great player had been cheated out of an 18.5 percent ownership stake in the Boston Bruins.
Even when the U.S. Department of Justice and Canada’s Justice ministry finally indicted Eagleson in 1994, he received comfort and counsel from Turner in his fight to avoid extradition to Boston (where the charges were announced). Paikin writes that Turner urged defiance, calling the DOJ “the worst bastards in the world… They’ve got unlimited time and resources. Stick that big chin of yours up front and defy them.”
Paikin quotes the present-day Eagleson, now 89, saying Turner “boosted my morale in the worst time of my life. His friendship means all the world to me.” Turner backed that up by supplying a character letter for Eagleson at his sentencing in Toronto in 1998.
How about those hockey heroes who played for the nation? Who brought excitement to generations of Canadians? Who suffered injuries and mental health issues without a proper union or agent representation? What did they get? It was all chump change to Turner. And, apparently, to a long list of political, media and business leaders at the time.
When Eagleson was released after serving a laughable four months in the Mimico, Ont., jail (his U.S. judge had told him he’d have received five years “not less a day”in his Boston court) Turner staged a “Freedom Lunch” for the just-released felon at the Senator Restaurant in downtown Toronto. According to Paikin, the dozen Al Pals who showed included the crême de la crême of Ontario: former premier Bill Davis, Roy McMurtry, Paul Godfrey, David Smith, Hal Jackman, Bud Estey and Darcy McKeough.
“Gentlemen,” Paikin quotes Turner as saying, “Whatever debt Alan Eagleson owed to society has been paid in full.” According to the book, the lunch was an annual pick-me-up for Eagleson till Turner’s passing in 2020. For this and other reasons, Eagleson— who has split time between Collingwood and England after his disgrace— is unrepentant about his behaviour. As the book reveals he’s still eager to exploit any media opportunity to resurrect his profile.
Thankfully, not everyone was dazzled by him: Eagleson was removed as a member of the Order of Canada and resigned from the Hockey Hall of Fame where he had been inducted in the builder category. The NHL has wisely kept him out of its business since. Few, if any, current politicians seek him out. TV has whited-out his name.
But for those who think there are rules for “us” and rules for “them”, the Eagleson saga is perfect example of privilege serving itself.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). 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 YearsIn NHL History, , his new book with his son Evan, was voted the eighth best professional hockey book of by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted seventh best, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
The Game That Let Canadians Forgive The Liberals — Again

With the Americans winning the first game 3-1, a sense of panic crept over Canada as it headed to Game 2 in Boston. Losing a political battle with Trump was bad enough, but losing hockey bragging rights heading into a federal election was catastrophic for the Family Compact.
“It’s also more political than the (1972) Summit Series was, because Canada’s existence wasn’t on the line then, and it may be now. You’re damn right Canadians should boo the (U.S.) anthem.” Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur before Gm. 1 of USA/ Canada in The 4 Nations Cup.
The year 2025 is barely half over on Canada Day. There is much to go before we start assembling Best Of Lists for the year. But as Palestinian flags duel with the Maple Leaf for prominence on the 158th anniversary of Canada’s becoming a sovereign country it’s a fair guess that we will settle on Febuary 21 as the pivotal date of the year— and Canada’s destiny as well.
That was the date of Game 2 in the U.S./Canada rivalry at the Four Nations Tournament. Ostensibly created by the NHL to replace the moribund All Star format, the showdown of hockey nations in Boston became much more. Jolted by non-sports factors it became a pivotal moment in modern Canadian history.
Set against U.S. president Donald Trump’s bellicose talk of Canada as a U.S. state and the Mike Myers/ Mark Carney Elbows Up ad campaign, the gold-medal game evoked, for those of a certain age, memories of the famous 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. And somehow produced an unprecedented political reversal in Canadian elections.
As we wrote on Feb. 16 after Gm. 1 in Montreal, the Four Nations had been meant to be something far less incendiary. “Expecting a guys’ weekend like the concurrent NBA All Star game, the fraternal folks instead got a Pier Six brawl. It was the most stunning beginning to a game most could remember in 50 years. (Not least of all the rabid Canadian fanbase urging patriotism in the home of Quebec separation) Considering this Four Nations event was the NHL’s idea to replace the tame midseason All Star Game where players apologize for bumping into each other during a casual skate, the tumult as referees tried to start the game was shocking.
“Despite public calls for mutual respect, the sustained booing of the American national anthem and the Team Canada invocation by MMA legend Georges St. Pierre was answered by the Tkachuck brothers, Matthew and Brady, with a series of fights in the first nine seconds of the game. Three fights to be exact ,when former Canuck J.T. Miller squared up with Brandon Hagel. (All three U.S. players have either played on or now play for Canadian NHL teams.)
“Premeditated and nasty. To say nothing of the vicious mugging of Canada’s legend Sidney Crosby behind the U.S. net moments later by Charlie McEvoy.”
With the Americans winning the game 3-1 on Feb. 15, a sense of panic crept over Canada as it headed to Game 2 in Boston. Losing a political battle with Trump was bad enough, but losing hockey bragging rights heading into a federal election was catastrophic for the Family Compact. As we wrote in the aftermath, a slaughter was avoided.

“In the rematch for a title created just weeks before by the NHL the boys stuck to hockey. Anthem booing was restrained. Outside of an ill-advised appearance by Wayne Gretzky— now loathed for his Trump support— the emphasis was on skill. Playing largely without injured Matthew and Brady Tkachuk and McAvoy, the U.S. forced the game to OT where beleaguered goalie Craig Binnington held Canada in the game until Connor McDavid scored the game winner. “
The stunning turnaround in the series produced a similar turnaround in the Canadian federal election. Galvanized by Trump’s 51st State disrespect and exhilarated by the hockey team’s comeback, voters switched their votes in huge numbers to Carney, ignoring the abysmal record of the Liberals and their pathetic polling. From Pierre Poilievre having a 20-point lead in polls, hockey-besotted Canada flipped to award Carney a near-majority in the April 28 election.
The result stunned the Canadian political class and international critics who questioned how a single sporting event could have miraculously rescued the Liberals from themselves in such a short time.

While Canada soared because of the four Nations, a Canadian icon crashed to earth. “Perhaps the most public outcome was the now-demonization of Gretzky in Canada. Just as they had with Bobby Orr, another Canadian superstar living in America, Canadians wiped their hands of No. 99 over politics. Despite appeals from Orr, Don Cherry and others, the chance to make Gretzky a Trump proxy was too tempting.
We have been in several arguments on the subject among friends: Does Gretzky owe Canada something after carrying its hockey burden for so long? Could he have worn a Team Canada jersey? Shouldn’t he have made a statement that he backs Canada in its showdown with Trump? For now 99 is 0 in his homeland.”
Even now, months later, the events of late February have an air of disbelief around them, a shift so dramatic and so impactful on the nation that many still shake their heads. Sure, hockey wasn’t the device that blew up Canada’s politics. But it was the fuse that created a crater in the country.
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, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous 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 brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Canada Day 2025: It’s Time For Boomers To Let The Kids Lead

So how did you spend your first Canada Day under new PM Mark Carney? If you’re CBC, freed from the clutches of Pierre Poilievere, you do a fawning interview with ex-pat comedian Mike Myers, whose Elbows Up appearance on Saturday Night Live and whose partisan hockey sweater appearance with Carney were pivotal moments in the recent election. (Saving CBC from drastic budget cuts— not that they mentioned it.)
After Donald Trump’s bellicose 51st state comments, Myers’ nostalgic harkening to the days of Gordie Howe and Mr. Dressup pivoted Boomers’ voter preferences in Canada. Soft Quebec sovereigntists petrified by Trump abandoned the Bloc for the Liberals. Progressives ditched the NDP for the Grits. And some wobbly Conservatives moved to Carney’s side, too, after the charm offensive by Myers, who hasn’t lived in Canada since the 1980s.

The result? Liberals vaulted 20 points in the polls and barely missed a majority in their fourth consecutive election win. Boomers were exultant. Their subsidized media was joyous. And the rest of the world asked if Canada was a serious country after the Libs naked substitution of Carney for the loathed Justin Trudeau. After all, hadn’t the U.S. Democrats tried the same thing and been summarily spanked by voters?
More to the point, had Canadian voters missed a great opportunity by sticking their heads in the ground on Chinese gangs using Canada as a drug launch pad, Canadian banks being fined billons for money laundering, immigration flooding social services, cratering GDP and Palestinian protests clogging the streets?
This at a time when the under-50 generation has lost faith in its destiny within Canada. As we wrote in March why are 43 percent of 18-36 male CDNs telling pollsters they would accept U.S. citizenship if they were guaranteed full rights and financial protections? Where upper-class products of liberal education— the future professional class— have taken to wearing keffiyehs to the convocations and demonstrations. Where housing is an unattainable goal in most major Canadian urban centres.
It’s not hard to see them looking at the Mike Myers obsession with a long-gone Canada and saying let’s get out of here. The signs are there. Recently former TVOntario host Steve Pakin attended two convocations. The first at the former Ryerson University, which switched its name to Toronto Metropolitan University in a fit of settler colonizer guilt. The second at Queens University, traditionally one of the elite schools in the nation. Here’s what he saw.
“At the end of the (TMU) convocation, when Charles Falzon, on his final day as dean of TMU’s Creative School, asked students to stand and sing the national anthem, many refused. They remained seated. Then, when the singing began, it was abundantly noticeable that almost none of the students sang along. And it wasn’t because they didn’t know the words, which were projected on a big screen. The unhappy looks on their faces clearly indicated a different, more political, explanation.

“I asked some of the TMU staff about it after the ceremony was over, and they confirmed what I saw happens all the time at convocations. Then I texted the president of another Ontario university who agreed: this is a common phenomenon among this generation at post-secondary institutions.”
At Queens, where Canadian flags were almost non-existent, O Canada was sung, but the message of unrest was clear: “Convocation sends a message of social stability,” Queen’s principal Patrick Deane began in his speech. “It is a ceremony shaped in history. You should value your connection to the past, but question that inheritance. Focus on the kind of society you’d like to inhabit.”
You can bet Deane is not telling them to question climate change and trans rights. As Paikin observes, “if we fail to create a more perfect union, we shouldn’t be surprised when a vast swath of young people don’t sing our anthem the way so many of the rest of us do.” So why are the best and brightest so reluctant to see as future in becoming the new professional class that runs society?
In the Free Press River Page searched the source of their discontent. “If the Great Recession, Covid-19, and the spectre of an artificial intelligence-assisted ‘white collar bloodbath’ has taught the professional class anything, it is that their credentials cannot save them. This insecurity, compounded by the outrageous cost of living in many large cities, has pushed the PMC’s anxieties to the breaking point.
“Add that to the triumph of identity politics in professional class institutions like universities, corporate C-suites, non-governmental organizations, and media—itself a byproduct of inter-elite competition as many have observed—and what you have is the modern left.
“… they’ve already come to the baffling conclusion that there’s no difference between class struggle and child sex changes. More to the point, the socialist mantra “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” has only ever stood the test of time in Anabaptist sects. It requires a religious devotion to self-sacrifice that is not characteristic of this anxious and hyper-competitive class—as many actual socialists have spent the last decade warning.”

As we wrote in March Boomer nostalgia is a dead end. “It’s time that Canada’s aging elite ceded a greater voice in the national debate to younger voices. They need an intervention of the type Trump is now performing on Canadians addicted to sitting in first class but paying economy. He brought them into a room with the chairs and levelled with them about getting the free stuff they assumed was their right. Defence, security, trade, medical access. He’s the first president to do this in half a century.
And like all people addicted, CDN Boomers don’t want the truth. They want performance theatre, T-shirts and hockey games. They blame Trump for their predicament, caught between grim realities. Will they take the 12 steps? Or will their kids have to tell them the facts as they escort them to the home?” Because we’re now seeing the likely answer to that question everywhere in Canadian society.
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, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous 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 brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
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