On a whim I checked to see how many Ontario-born players are on the Leafs. The first link has Don Cherry worried about the small number of those players. The second says they are getting some but just... "two years ago, there were times when there were no players from Ontario (or Toronto of course).The Leafs say they take the “best available player.” Different team same story...same rationale. I think the situation is just another thing to chat up to get fans charged up. No conspiracy just being smart with choices.
It's not the same thing. It's a false equivalency. Ontario is an english-speaking province and it would be best represented if the majority of players are anglo-canadians. A case could also be made that since Toronto is the most multicultural city in Canada and possibly all of North America, having players of other nationalities on the team would be a better representation. Outsiders may not know this, but caucasians are now a minority in the city of Toronto.
But Montreal is a different story. The province of Quebec has the status of 'distinct society' and i do understand why many french-speaking Quebecers may want to separate from Canada one day and form their own country. Actually, i once read a poll which showed that a majority of french-speaking Quebecers felt a closer allegiance to France than they did to Canada. But that's another story. Quebec is a distinct society and unlike any other Canadian province. The large majority of french-canadians live in Quebec and make up 90% of its population. What i'm saying is that Claude Giroux (born in Ontario) belongs on the habs more than Torrey Mitchell (born near Montreal) does. It's a french thing, not a province thing.
Personally, as a Leaf fan and Canadian i'd rather have the majority of Leafs players be Canadian-born. That's my preference. However, i don't mind having a few Americans, Europeans, blacks and muslims on my team since it would be a better representation of Toronto. But since Toronto is regarded as 'Canada's team', it doesn't bother me that other nationalities are represented on the team. But again, it's a different scenario on the Canadiens, which was once known as The Flying Frenchmen. It's extremely disappointing that french-canadian players are very few on that team.
At least the coach and GM are french-canadians.
