PONDERABLE
Why is former Russian Red Army goalie Vladislav Tretiak in the Hockey Hall of Fame while Paul Henderson is not? Isn’t the operative word “fame?”
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
Until journalists stop letting them get away with it, politicians will continue to dodge difficult questions
For Justin Trudeau and the PMO staff to continually get away with showing such callous disregard for Parliament there must be a lot of gutless MPs in the Liberal caucus.
Justin Trudeau and Gary Bettman have a lot in common.
The Spence Diamond radio ads currently being aired in the Greater Toronto Area are the worst in the history of broadcasting.
BC SUPREME COURT ROGERS DECISION
As distasteful as it was considered to be in many quarters, the BC Supreme Court decision confirming that Edward Rogers has unfettered control over the company is nonetheless viewed by many corporate governance experts as the correct legal interpretation of the Rogers family trust provisions. Those experts also agree that weaknesses in provincial securities legislation are a breeding ground for this type of governance dissidence.
THE ENIGMATIC ERIN O’TOOLE
Erin O’Toole seems to be a very nice man who no doubt has the best interests of the country at heart. However, he’s been a surprising disappointment as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
O’Toole’s dismal campaign was the main reason the Conservatives failed to take advantage of Justin Trudeau’s vulnerability in the September election. And his inexplicable position on COVID-19 vaccinations became even more bewildering after the election. To say that he got away to a bad start and tapered off is an understatement.
His repetitive insistence that he is in favour of everyone being vaccinated while refusing to reveal how many of his MPs have had theirs makes no sense, especially since we will all know the number when Parliament reconvenes on November 22nd.
To win back the confidence of the many disappointed MPs and party members O’Toole will have to demonstrate that he has control of his caucus and then perform exceptionally well in the House of Commons.
TWO INCREDIBLE GOALS
Until last week the best goal I’d ever witnessed was scored on Vladislav Tretiak by Peter Mahovlich at the 6:47 mark of the 3rd period of the second game in the 1972 Canada/Russia Summit Series. (Peter’s more famous brother, Frank, scored about two minutes later in Canada’s 4-1 win.) I remember saying, “It’ll be a long time before I see another goal like that.” It was almost half a century. Connor McDavid’s goal against Rangers goalie Alexandar Georglev on November 5th was as impressive, perhaps even more so.
The similarities between the two goals are that both were scored by Canadian-born forwards against Russian goaltenders, and both featured mind-boggling stick-handling. McDavid’s will be considered by some to be more impressive because he beat four Ranger skaters in tight quarters from just inside their blue line, whereas Mahovlich’s goal was basically an end-to-end rush which gave him a lot more time and space to manoeuvre than McDavid had.
As far as I’m concerned the biggest difference between the two goals is that I saw McDavid’s on a television highlight reel but watched Mahovlich’s from a rail seat at Maple Leaf Gardens.
HOUSTON CONCERT TRAGEDY
The death of 9 people, and the hospitalization of dozens of others, many with life-altering injuries, in Houston last Friday when approximately 50,000 selfish, thoughtless concertgoers stampeded like crazed cattle toward the stage was alarming. But as someone who was heavily involved in the entertainment business for almost thirty years, I wasn’t surprised. Artists, stadium operators and concert promoters have long had a cavalier attitude toward many of the spectator safety requirements of performance permits and industry guidelines.
The lawsuits are already mounting and a lot of lawyers are going to get rich. But the more interesting question is whether there’ll be criminal charges. There absolutely should be. It’s obvious from available video that the concert continued for at least half an hour after it was clear that something horrible was happening. The star of the show, rapper Travis Scott, has been arrested twice before for inciting riots at his concerts. And Canadian artist, Drake, appears to have begun his guest performance after the crowd problem was obvious. This is one example where the adage “the show must go on” was completely inappropriate.