The Citizen, 2000-02-23, Page 10S ports
PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2000.
From the sidelines
Who will take up the slack?
Huddle
By Hugh
Nichol
Friday’s an
nouncement that
the NHL Ottawa
Senators will
remain in our
nation’s capital
is being met
with mixed emotions as the
happiness shared by the Senators
fans is intermingled with skepticism
that they only delayed the
inevitable.
Ottawa owner Rod Bryden had
stated that if by a self-imposed
deadline the Senators had not
enticed 1,500 new season ticket
holders to step forward and
convinced 90 per cent of its present
subscribers to renew, the team
would be put up for sale and in all
probability would be moved south
of the border. The reason for
Bryden’s ultimatum was the result
of the public outrage that forced
Industry Minister John Manley to
renege on a federal government aid
package for Canada’s NHL teams.
While I congratulate the Canadian
people for finally speaking out
about our government's
accountability I question why it took
something so unique as our national
pastime and not the GST or rising
fuel costs to bring our feelings on
spending to the forefront. The
government has been mis-spending
our hard earned tax dollars for
years, the most recent example
being the mismanagement of $1
billion a year in job grants.
Conveniently lost in the shuffle
was the real problem involving our
professional hockey teams. The
issue was taxes and currency not
millionaire players and owners. It
was never a choice between hockey
and the homeless or hockey and
health care. No money was going to
be dive,led from other programs nor
will additional money now go
towards these programs with the
collapse of the bailout.
It was estimated that it would cost
the federa' government $20 million
a year to subsidize the six Canadian
teams but realistically only Ottawa
would have benefitted. The proposal
stated the federal government would
match 25 per cent of any package
Novices lose
to Elma Logan
The Brussels Novices were
edged by their hosts when they
travelled to Zurich Feb. 16.
The squad jumped out to an early
lead when Wade Stephenson set up
Tom Cronin who glided in to score
in the first.
Coming into the second up by
one, Brussels was held off the
board, while Zurich bulged the
twine twice to capture the lead.
Evan Ducharme tied it in the
third off a play by Stephenson, but
with just over a minute of play left,
Zurich blew another past the Brus
sels netminder for the win,
It was a bigger loss Feb. 19 when
the team visited Elma Logan. Brus
sels lone goal in this 5-1 outing was
by Stephenson. Cronin got the
assist.
put together by the NHL, the
province and the municipality and
only Ottawa/Kanata indicated any
willingness to make tax concessions
at the local level.
Calgary and Edmonton already
pay little or no property tax as the
government of Alberta long ago
acknowledged the value of its
franchises. Toronto is simply too
profitable, (who else would pay
Mats Sundin $7 million a year?),
Montreal has taken the city to court
over their levy and honestly who
cares about Vancouver. I mean you
wake up at 9 a.m. in British
Columbia and its already noon
everywhere else.
Theoretically if Ottawa received a
$6 million tax break locally, plus a
$4 million donation from the NHL’s
Canadian Assistance Plan the
federal government’s share would
be $2.5 million, pocket change
considering their annual spending is
in the area of $ 112 billion.
The real slap in the face is that our
government used taxpayers’ money
to fund a study on how to assist the
teams. The final report called
Leadership, Partnership and
Accountability took two years to
prepare and two days to kill.
Although it may sound as if I
supported the proposition I was not
totally in favour of subsidizing the
Canadian teams. I do however
believe the government will
continue to extract my money
regardless and I enjoy hockey more
so than the arts and other subsidized
cultural events although a Canadian
exhibition in Paris that sees
actresses pose as call girls and talk
sex with gallery visitors has
promise. It seems the exhibit
received a $15,000 creative
development grant from the Canada
Council for the Arts, while our
Canadian embassy in France is
covering the salaries of the eight
actresses for 10 weeks of display.
Don’t believe the loss of a team
has no effect on the economy, that
people will spend the money
elsewhere. Democracy lives but
hundreds of jobs that contribute to
our tax structure may be lost and
when that vast source of tax dollars
leaves the country guess who will be
expected to take up the slack?
r
I For all your RRSPs
| and Mutual Funds
I needs
L
LAURENTIAN BANK
OF CANADA
The Wingham Bantam Girls took on Ripley on home ice
this past Sunday. This Wingham player squeezes out of a
meSS to take control. (VickyBremnerphoto)
Bantams done
The Wingham Bantams Girls
were blasted in their last game of
the season.
Jenni Hopf was the lone scorer
for Wingham Feb. 20 when they
took on Ripley.
The team was beat 9-1.
Sting doubles Stars
The Sting doubled up the Stars in
Blyth Industrial League play in
Week 15.
With goals from Jim Oster
(three), Steve Siertsema (two) and
Darryl Chalmers, the Sting earned a
6-3 win. Scoring for the Stars were
Mike Haggitt (two) and Steve
Bromley.
The Bulldogs slid by the Chiefs
in a 7-6 victory.
Bulldogs point-getters were
Mark Wilson (two), Chris Taylor
(two), Shawn Bromley, Jeff Brom
ley, and Andrew Gibson.
Ryan Crawford, Ben Lobb, Jeff
MacGregor, Darryn McCash, Ian
Koetsier and Dennis Vere scored
for the Chiefs.
The Bulldogs meet the Sting and
Auburn takes on the Chiefs next
week.
237 Josephine St.
Wingham
357-2022
Zurich tops
Brussels
In spite of a great start to the
game, the Brussels Tykes were
downed by Zurich in their Feb. 1.9
contest.
Great goaltending by the Zurich
netminder thwarted many attempts
by Matt Huether, Ray Huether and
Brendan Stretton.
Cole McLean kicked off the scor
ing at 21:25 of the first with his
first goal of the season. Huether
followed up two minutes later with
a shot through the crowd which
fooled the goalie.
Brussels offense was then shut
down while Zurich tallied five, four
in the last six and a half minutes of
the first.
Stretton made a nice move on a
pass from Jordan Roberts, but his
flip narrowly missed.
Roberts was again strong on
defense, keeping the puck in the
zone and retreating to defend the
net.
Good hustle by Nic Gowing and
Gavin Bowers made for an exciting
match.
Randy Zwep made some nice
plays along the boards and carrying
the puck in for an attempt.
Ty Sebastian was kept very busy
between the posts for Brussels.
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