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OTTAWA — The Edmonton Oilers punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup final on Sunday night but some Conservative politicians and mystified hockey fans weren’t in the mood to celebrate.
Instead of watching the game for free on the CBC, which has the rights to the playoffs, fans had to pony up for Sportsnet or miss the game entirely. Anyone tuning in to their local CBC channel was greeted with the Canadian Screen Awards, which was followed by a Just for Laughs comedy special.
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“The Edmonton Oilers are the only Canadian team left in the playoffs. Despite receiving $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars this year, CBC decided not to air the Oilers games,” wrote Tim Uppal, the Conservative deputy leader and Edmonton-area MP.
“Instead, CBC aired a Just For Laughs replay. It’s time to defund the CBC,” he wrote.
Even more galling for many Canadian hockey lovers was that the CBC aired the final games of the Eastern final between the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers, two American teams.
“The CBC has broadcasted the NHL playoffs every year since 1973, so why won’t the Toronto CBC execs bother to air the Oilers’ crucial games as they look to bring the cup home to Canada for the first time since 1993?” wrote Laila Goodridge, a Fort McMurray MP, who also called for the public broadcaster to be defunded.
It wasn’t just politicians and hockey fans ripping the CBC for the decision. Sports commentators expressed bewilderment that, in a year when so many Canadian teams were viable contenders for the Stanley Cup, the CBC didn’t make sure all the games were available to Canadians.
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“The CBC had the puck on its stick in the crease with a wide-open net. All it would have taken was a wee tap-in for a goal,” wrote longtime sportswriter Jack Todd, in the Montreal Gazette.
A 2022 poll by Mainstreet Research found that 46 per cent of Canadians either strongly or somewhat support defunding the CBC and Poilievre made it a signature promise in his campaign for the Conservative leadership.
The party still says it plans to follow through with that promise.
“It’s jarring that the CBC, Canada’s state broadcaster which is supposed to promote Canadian culture, aired a re-run of a comedy show instead of broadcasting a pivotal game of the sole Canadian hockey team playing in the Stanley Cup Finals,” said Sebastian Skamski, the director of media relations for the Conservatives.
“A common sense Conservative government will defund the CBC,” he said.
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