On the heels of another tense hearing with Hockey Canada‘s past and current board chairs defending the organization, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and MPs were unequivocal on Wednesday in their condemnation of Hockey Canada’s resistance to making changes that they say are necessary.
“It boggles the mind that Hockey Canada is continuing to dig in its heels. Parents across the country are losing faith, or have lost faith in Hockey Canada,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on his way in to a Liberal caucus meeting.
“Certainly, politicians here in Ottawa have lost faith in Hockey Canada. It’s no surprise that provincial organizations are questioning whether or not they want to continue supporting an organization that doesn’t understand how serious the situation it has contributed to causing,” he continued, referencing Hockey Quebec’s decision to no longer transfer funds to the national organization.
Hockey Quebec’s board passed a motion on Tuesday night, stating that it no longer thinks Hockey Canada is capable of changing hockey culture under its current structure.
Federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge told reporters on Wednesday that she thinks Hockey Quebec’s decision “sends the message to the leaders at the organization that are holding on to their jobs, that Hockey Canada doesn’t belong to them. It also belongs to their members, and they want change.”
Asked if other provincial hockey bodies should follow suit, St-Onge said she thinks that all voting members “need to clean the house.”
For months, federal politicians have been examining Hockey Canada’s handling of alleged sexual assaults and lawsuit pay-outs, with all parties calling for a change to senior leadership and a full airing of the facts with a clear plan for reform.
During a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, officials faced a barrage of questions from MPs frustrated by continuing revelations about Hockey Canada’s management of sexual assault claims and funding, with MPs demanding answers why Hockey Canada President Scott Smith hasn’t been fired.
Hockey Canada continues to defend its handling of the matter, suggesting Tuesday that it’s not worth the risk of lights going off in Canadian rinks should all senior leaders leave, and is claiming some of its actions have been mischaracterized.
The national governing body for hockey in Canada which has hired a public relations firm to help navigate the controversy — has also said it is working on addressing safe sport concerns, has made changes to how it uses certain funding, and has appointed a former Supreme Court justice to conduct a governance review.
However, on Wednesday MPs made it clear they don’t think the steps Hockey Canada has taken are nearly sufficient.
“We need meaningful change at the top of Hockey Canada. Obviously the CEO has to go, and other management has to go as well. What we’ve seen over the past few months is a complete unwillingness to be transparent and complete unwillingness to make the changes necessary to ensure that Canadians have trust and faith in the leadership of Hockey Canada,” said Conservative MP John Nater, who has been among the main questioners of the organization throughout the House Canadian Heritage Committee’s hearings.
Nater, speaking on his way into a Conservative caucus meeting, said he thinks other provincial organizations should follow Hockey Quebec’s lead.
Echoing his colleague, Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said Hockey Canada’s sponsors also have a responsibility to “stand up and push back.”
Tim Hortons said Wednesday that it informed Hockey Canada this week that it has pulled out of all men’s hockey programming for the 2022-23 season including the men’s world junior championships.
“We’ve communicated to Hockey Canada on many occasions that the organization needs to take strong and definitive action before it can regain the faith and trust of Canadians. We’re deeply disappointed in the lack of progress that Hockey Canada has made to date,” said the fast food giant’s media relations in a statement to CTV News. “We continue to fund Canada’s women’s and para hockey teams, as well as youth hockey.”
Scotiabank also released a statement Wednesday, saying the company’s sponsorship pause of Hockey Canada will remain in effect for the 2022-23 season and the world junior tournament.
“In our open letter in June, we publicly called on Hockey Canada to hold the game to a higher standard and we are disappointed with the lack of progress to date.” Scotiabank said in a statement to CTV National News. “From Hockey Canada, we expect a tangible commitment to transparency with Canadians, strong leadership, accountability with their stakeholders and the hockey community, and improved safety both on and off the ice. Ultimately our position hasn’t wavered: the time for change is long overdue.”
Referencing interim Hockey Canada board chair Andrea Skinner’s comments during Tuesday’s hearing about the risk of rinks going dark should there be a complete overhaul of senior leadership, Waugh said “come on.”
“The Toronto Blue Jays fired their manager midseason, where are they today? They’re in the playoffs. You can make changes in an organization and you know, we can cite several hockey teams over the years have made changes. Hockey Canada needs to make changes,” he said. “They’re pretty arrogant right now.”
Speaking about Tuesday’s testimony, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said that he was “pretty shocked at the complete lack of understanding of the seriousness of the problem.”
“Rightly so, people are appalled, people are upset, and we need to do everything we can to put pressure on Hockey Canada to change. It’s clear right now that the leadership doesn’t get it and so calling for resignation of the leadership I think is appropriate,” Singh said.
Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary for Canadian Heritage Chris Bittle told reporters that he’d like to see the ongoing parliamentary study expanded to hear from witnesses beyond those connected to Hockey Canada, such as experts and other sports stakeholders who can help provide recommendations. He said parliamentarians should also look at former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell’s interim recommendations which are expected to be presented ahead of Hockey Canada’s annual general meeting in November.
“Hockey Canada hasn’t learned its lesson. It doesn’t seem to be interested in change. It seems interested in promoting the status quo,” Bittle said. “Ultimately this is for kids, it’s for the sport that Canadians love, is that there needs to be significant changes this organization, But also, other national sports organizations need to be watching this because Hockey Canada isn’t the only one that has problems going on.”
With a file from CTV National News Parliamentary Bureau reporter Annie Bergeron-Oliver
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
NEW YORK (AP) — When her husband turns on the television to hear news about the upcoming presidential election, that’s often a signal for Lori Johnson Malveaux to leave the room.
It can get to be too much. Often, she’ll go to a TV in another room to watch a movie on the Hallmark Channel or BET. She craves something comforting and entertaining. And in that, she has company.
While about half of Americans say they are following political news “extremely” or “very” closely, about 6 in 10 say they need to limit how much information they consume about the government and politics to avoid feeling overloaded or fatigued, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts.
Make no mistake: Malveaux plans to vote. She always does. “I just get to the point where I don’t want to hear the rhetoric,” she said.
The 54-year-old Democrat said she’s most bothered when she hears people on the news telling her that something she saw with her own eyes — like the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — didn’t really happen.
“I feel like I’m being gaslit. That’s the way to put it,” she said.
Sometimes it feels like ‘a bombardment’
Caleb Pack, 23, a Republican from Ardmore, Oklahoma, who works in IT, tries to keep informed through the news feeds on his phone, which is stocked with a variety of sources, including CNN, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
Yet sometimes, Pack says, it seems like a bombardment.
“It’s good to know what’s going on, but both sides are pulling a little bit extreme,” he said. “It just feels like it’s a conversation piece everywhere, and it’s hard to escape it.”
Media fatigue isn’t a new phenomenon. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late 2019 found roughly two in three Americans felt worn out by the amount of news there is, about the same as in a poll taken in early 2018. During the 2016 presidential campaign, about 6 in 10 people felt overloaded by campaign news.
But it can be particularly acute with news related to politics. The AP-NORC/USAFacts poll found that half of Americans feel a need to limit their consumption of information related to crime or overseas conflicts, while only about 4 in 10 are limiting news about the economy and jobs.
It’s easy to understand, with television outlets like CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC full of political talk and a wide array of political news online, sometimes complicated by disinformation.
“There’s a glut of information,” said Richard Coffin, director of research and advocacy for USAFacts, “and people are having a hard time figuring out what is true or not.”
Women are more likely to feel they need to limit media
In the AP-NORC poll, about 6 in 10 men said they follow news about elections and politics at least “very” closely, compared to about half of women. For all types of news, not just politics, women are more likely than men to report the need to limit their media consumption, the survey found.
White adults are also more likely than Black or Hispanic adults to say they need to limit media consumption on politics, the poll found.
Kaleb Aravzo, 19, a Democrat, gets a baseline of news by listening to National Public Radio in the morning at home in Logan, Utah. Too much politics, particularly when he’s on social media sites like TikTok and Instagram, can trigger anxiety and depression.
“If it pops up on my page when I’m on social media,” he said, “I’ll just scroll past it.”
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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.
The AP poll of 1,019 adults was conducted July 29-August 8, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.
