It was the tweet heard by hockey fans across the country – or at least across the Commons.
Heritage Minister James Moore, who represents a riding in suburban Vancouver, was smiling and unrepentant Monday after a weekend post to the social networking site Twitter in which he declared the Vancouver Canucks to be “Canada’s team in these playoffs.”
The Canucks, of course, are not the only Canadian team left in the National Hockey League playoffs. And some followers of the Montreal Canadiens took exception to Mr. Moore’s tweet, which continued with praise for the Canucks’ “handsome Canadian Alliance-esque blue/green jerseys.”
By picking a Western Canadian team and ignoring the hockey heroes of Quebec, the minister is dividing the country, said one blogger. Mr. Moore was accused of politicizing Canada’s national game and providing fodder to the separatists.
Justin Trudeau, a Liberal MP from Montreal, tweeted back with a bite. “You don’t have to like the Habs,” he wrote. “But you could show a little more respect.”
When Mr. Moore stood to answer a question in the House of Commons, Thomas Mulcair, a New Democrat from Montreal, repeatedly shouted “Go Habs Go!”
The Heritage Minister, a frequent tweeter, just shook his head at all the fuss.
“I have played hockey all my life and of course I love the Canucks. I am from Vancouver. The Habs played great yesterday and I hope the Canucks and the Habs meet in the Stanley Cup finals,” he told reporters on the way into Question Period.
People are passionate about their hockey, Mr. Moore conceded. “Just lighten up a little bit. Everybody have a good time. It’s hockey, it’s great.”
But Montreal is more than just passionate about hockey.
Michael Fortier, the former Conservative public works minister who was his party’s representative in Montreal, made the mistake of predicting in 2008 that the New York Rangers would win the championship. He lost an election to the Bloc Quebecois later that year.
Coincidence, perhaps. But Montreal fans have long memories. And polls suggest that the Conservatives can’t afford to lose more support in the province of Quebec.
Mr. Trudeau, who engaged in friendly private banter with Mr. Moore inside the House of Commons, told reporters on the way through the doors that he is willing to support the Canucks “once, or,” he paused, “if, the Habs are no longer in it. But I think picking one Canadian team, whichever one it may be, as the Canadian team, shows that perhaps the Heritage Minister is not serious about speaking for all Canadians and trying to bring us together.”
Denis Coderre, another Liberal MP from Montreal, said Mr. Moore’s comments make him anxious for a Stanley Cup finals “between the Canucks and the Habs and we’ll see who is the real game.”
And Charlie Angus, the NDP Heritage critic, said Mr. Moore needs to control his thumbs. “I think when James is watching a hockey game and he gets excited,” Mr. Angus said, “he should put his little Twitter fingers down.”
