Free Gift Just For Joining!

I have to give Bell Media's Rick Westhead some serious credit because it seems like he's a hungry dog holding onto a piece of meat when it comes to the Hockey Canada scandal that is ongoing. Rick, as you likely know, has pulled back layers of cover to expose some of the worst parts of Hockey Canada, and he continues to do so today. Westhead, through TSN, reported today that NDP MP Peter Julian wants to sit down with Hockey Canada executives and board members once again after a former Hockey Canada board member told Julian that "senior staff and board members receive gifts and other perks with little oversight or transparency."

That bombshell, found in this report, absolutely should be reviewed, investigated, and scrutinized by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage because it's hard to justify anyone receiving perks such as free gifts or unlimited spending when there was so much misconduct happening elsewhere in the organization. Accountability is apparently something that Hockey Canada has never mandated from its executive team nor its Board of Directors, so kudos to MP Julian for wanting answers and to Westhead for once again bringing another misstep to light.

Julian was quick to point out that this new wrinkle in the committee's effort to make Hockey Canada accountable was not just to knock the besieged organization down another peg or to embarrass it further.

"This is not about dragging Hockey Canada through the muck," Julian said. "It's about acountability and transparency. We've had a lot of stonewalling by Hockey Canada, and we haven't gotten the answers Canadians are asking for. We are hearing from minor hockey associations and parents who are concerned about the use of their registration fees for purposes that have nothing to do with effective management of hockey.

"The allegations I've heard about high-priced wine, gold rings, and luxury accommodation are concerning. This whistleblower is providing important information. The committee needs to hear from them, and Hockey Canada has to come clean with what it's been doing with registration fees and why they have not invested in stopping sexual assaults."

This is going to be critical in examining how the Hockey Canada board members and executive team were accountable when it came to spending and gifts in light of all for which they're currently under the microscope. The current Chair of the Board, Andrea Skinner, was a member of Hockey Canada's Finance and Audit Committee, and there might be a number of questions she'll have to answer about the lavish gifts and excessive spending Hockey Canada reportedly was doing for a number of years with little to no oversight from anyone.

We're all a little sickened by corporations who demand a government bailout for a failing business model only to see those businesses turn around and dump a multi-million dollar severance package on an outgoing executive. You've seen the stories on the news and - be honest - it sparks a ping of rage in you in seeing someone walk off with money they didn't earn or deserve.

Here's where Hockey Canada's story gets a little more sickening: they were paying off one-to-two sexual assault or sexual misconduct allegations annually for five to six years, as per CEO Scott Smith in his testimony, while the former board member who spoke to Westhead stated that "they and other board members have received gifts from Hockey Canada such as large-screen televisions, home theatre systems, iPads, and luggage. The board member also said they and other executives and board members have attended dinners at five-star restaurants that were paid for by Hockey Canada."

The only accountability that Hockey Canada had, it seems, was to reward those who kept their mouths shut about the crimes alleged and the pay-offs needed to cover them up.

"When you are on the board of Hockey Canada, you live the high life," the former board member told TSN. "You have a credit card and can spend thousands of dollars every month to wine and dine. You stay at the best hotels when you travel for the federation, and you're invited to attend parties in the hotel's presidential suite where the board chair stays."

"I've been at [Hockey Canada] restaurant tables... where the table has been packed with wines that cost $150 per bottle. Spending thousands on a dinner was no big deal."

Remember, folks, this is an organization taking money from the federal government - your tax dollars at work! - and from its member associations in terms of player fees, and they're spending like there's no limit on anything. The re-investment of your dollars should be going into programs and innovations, not to five-star restaurants and first-class accommodations for board members. This is why answers are needed about this new wrinkle, and it's my hope that MP Julian gets some.

Imagine the funding that women's hockey could have at levels below the national team. U SPORTS hockey could be huge. Grassroots tournaments could be bigger and better-funded. Coaching and mentoring programs could be expanded in a major way. A larger contribution from Hockey Canada could be made in starting and running a women's professional league. The possibilities are endless.

How about sledge hockey which we know is significantly underfunded thanks to my chat with Billy Bridges on The Hockey Show a few weeks ago? Enrollment is down, leagues are shrinking, players have less places to play, and Hockey Canada has barely blinked. The women's para team faces the same issues as the men do, but they have even less resources from which they can draw. How is this even close to acceptable?

Terry Ledingham, a Hockey Canada board member from 2010-2015, gave Westhead even more disturbing comments about how little the Hockey Canada Board of Directors knew during his time.

"[During my time on the board] there were a lot of questions that were not asked that we should have asked," said Ledingham, a 75-year-old retired electrician in St. Albert, Alta. "We should have asked why we were paying out claims related to the abuse of Sheldon Kennedy and Theoren Fleury and other players connected to the Canadian Hockey League and letting the CHL sit in the back row with its arms crossed and not be held more responsible.

"I didn't know how much we paid out in claims for abuse. I didn't know. I didn't ask. I only knew we were taking money from every player registration, and we were told it was going to all claims, including when players had accidents, like when they went into the boards badly and became paraplegic. I could have asked more about what our executives were paid. I had no idea until this testimony in Ottawa that Hockey Canada officials were making huge bonuses when we won tournaments."

At this point, I don't know if anyone on the Board of Directors or the executive team at Hockey Canada should be trusted without there being some doubt about their testimonies. Hearing about free gifts, unlimited spending, and lavish bonuses being given or paid to people whose primary objective is to govern the game and enhance Canadian hockey at all levels is absolutely abhorrent, and I'm not interested in any testimony or statement that doesn't start with "I'm sorry".

This is a moment of reflection for everyone sitting in the board room and in the offices of Hockey Canada to look into the mirror and ask the person staring back what they could have done and will be doing differently to ensure the corruption of the country's hockey governing body never happens again. If money is the root of all evil, the spending and gifting that Hockey Canada was doing with money that should have been used to better the game is the resulting rotten tree that sprouted from that root.

The comments from Hockey Canada spokeswoman Esther Madziya in Westhead's report are absolutely useless as well when it comes to defending or rationalizing the spending done by Hockey Canada. Telling Westhead that gifts can come from a number of sources without having those sources disclosed to the board is a huge red flag, and having all these expenses for travel and food that clearly fall outside of a per diem situation means that all the oversight on spending that Madziya claims is in place isn't there. This is simply more lip service in an effort to cover Hockey Canada's behind.

I cannot stress how important it is for MP Julian to get some answers on Hockey Canada's operations at this point. We already know they completely mishandled registration fees paid for by you and I, and now it seems like any budgeting that they were supposed to be doing to help the game within Canada's borders was being spent on food, hotels, travel, and, potentially, gifts for people.

Hockey Canada is broken in so many ways at the executive and board levels. It might be time to admit that this country's governing hockey body needs to start over with a clear and concise mandate on what the purpose of Hockey Canada is in this country. As it stands right now, I'm not sure they're even in the same arena as that purpose.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!