“It’s time for her to go!” Justin Trudeau is opening the door to creating a new organization to replace Hockey Canada as new sponsors withdraw their support.
• Also read: Hockey Quebec says no to Hockey Canada
• Also read: Justin Trudeau puts Hockey Canada in check
Invited to address the Hockey Canada scandal again, Canada’s Prime Minister spoke out against the organization.
“The fact that they don’t understand that people have completely lost faith in what they are doing prolongs the pain.”
Hockey Canada sponsors flee
Far from being impressed by Hockey Canada’s most recent appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, some sponsors of the national association have withdrawn their support since Wednesday.
TELUS, Esso, Chevrolet, Sobeys, Skip the Dishes and Canadian Tire followed on Thursday after Tim Hortons and Scotiabank, which ended their sponsorship of the men’s hockey program for this season. In the case of the latter company, the decision appears to be final.
“In our view, Hockey Canada continues to resist significant cultural change and we can no longer confidently proceed together,” Canadian Tire said in a statement. We are proud of our sporting commitments and will continue to invest in our national sport by redirecting our support to hockey-related organizations that better align with our values.
The opinion is identical on the TELUS side, but that does not preclude allying again with Hockey Canada if the latter makes the desired changes.
“We are deeply heartbroken by the association’s lack of action and commitment to fostering the culture change that is needed,” the company wrote through a spokesman. TELUS will not sponsor any men’s hockey programs in 2022-23, which includes the upcoming World Junior Championships. We remain passionate hockey fans and together we stand for systemic change that ensures the game is safe for everyone.”
The Esso brand, owned by Imperial Oil Group, announced the withdrawal of all support for the men’s national team for the season, including the World Juniors, until they see “meaningful accountability, transparency and change”.
“We are disappointed that we have not yet seen more meaningful action,” Esso added in a statement sent to Sportsnet.
“Like many Canadians, we are deeply disturbed by the recent allegations and have decided to end our partnership with Hockey Canada,” Skip the Dishes said.
“At GM (General Motors), we do not tolerate abuse of any kind and we want Hockey Canada to once again set a positive example for all Canadians,” Chevrolet said in a statement.
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Hockey Canada continues to face much criticism, including from the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of the federal government. Amid a crisis since the uncovering of a gang rape case that it settled out of court with the alleged victim, the organization believes it has done well over the past few months, according to statements from interim chief executive Andrea Skinner, who is also the accused the media of misinformation.
“It’s time for them to go!” Mr. Trudeau said Thursday as he opened the door to the formation of a new organization to replace Hockey Canada.
A mature decision
If such major sponsors have chosen to distance themselves from the federation, it is because their partnership has yielded more negative than positive results, according to Professor Luc Dupont at the University of Ottawa’s communications department.
“They measured all this, it is certain that intuition is not speaking here. These are numbers, these are studies,” he argued in an interview with LCN on Thursday.
Companies jumping overboard send a clear message to Hockey Canada, as their multimillion-dollar contributions will hurt the federation’s wallet even more than Hockey Quebec’s refusal to pay it the $3 per registration fee.
However, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Scotiabank and TELUS will also lose visibility.
“To take Tim Hortons as an example, it’s not an easy decision. I remind you that the Canadian positioning of this channel is based on this association, among others,” said Mr. Dupont.
“Tim Hortons is just a restaurant chain, we agree on that. But from the moment you sponsor one event rather than another, you make a certain number of decisions, and all of these help create the brand’s image or brand. In the case of Tim Hortons, this is extremely important. It’s the equivalent of McDonald’s leaving Russia,” he added.