Good to see that Canada has their priorities in order.
Here in America, our election season has already come and gone. We all know how things went back in November, and now, we’ve got President Trump leading the way until 2028. Our political system’s way of doing things – or at least the four-year cycle timing of our elections – doesn’t change that much.
In Canada, it’s a whole different story… and it’s a little confusing. Basically, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was resigning as the leader of the Liberal Party back in January. A man named Mark Carney was then sworn as the Prime Minister, and shortly afterwards, he called for what’s called a “snap election.”
To avoid making this a longwinded explanation, elections in Canada happen at least every five years. However, early election can be initiated for a couple different reasons – one being the country’s governor accepting advice to dissolve Parliament from the prime minister (which is what happened this time). So the snap election was recently triggered, and Canadians will now go to the polls on April 28 with not much warning.
Obviously, you can’t have an election without some debates (here in the States, they were must-see TV). Canada scheduled one of their debates to be last night, and apparently whoever did so forgot to check the NHL schedule. That might seem like a silly thing to say… but hockey is a HUGE deal to our northern neighbors. So much so that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh (translation: important person in Canadian politics) called on the organizers of the debate to move the timing so that Canadians could their Montreal Canadians – who were playing for a Stanley Cup playoff berth:
“Hockey is in our blood. This scheduling conflict makes the political system look out of touch and is going to have a serious impact on who tunes in to the only French debate of the campaign.”
Folks, that was all it took for the Canadian debate organizers to put down their shield and move the debate so that hockey fans in Canada could watch their team fight for a spot in the playoffs. Not too long after that statement came out, Radio-Canada and the Leaders’ Debates Commission released a statement of their own, saying that they will be prioritizing the hockey game over the political debate:
“Recognizing Canadians’ passion for hockey, citizens will be able to catch this crucial moment in the election campaign while also following the decisive periods of the hockey game that could put the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs.”
Sports just matter more.
And ultimately, the decision to move the debate to allow for Canadians to take in the hockey game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Montreal team was a smart one. It ended up paying off big time, because the Montreal Canadians did, in fact, clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Just goes to show you that sometimes (often times if you ask me), there are things that matter far more than politics.
Oh que oui, le printemps s'annonce bruyant à Montréal 😏
Oh yes, spring in Montreal is going to be loud#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/gzjCqi6tqX
— x – Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 17, 2025
And to be fair, Demidov is A LOT to be excited about:
You know him, you love him:
Ivan Demidov pic.twitter.com/opSOK5vm9w
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) April 17, 2025
