12 hours ago
Oh, Canada — Oilers' mass anthem karaoke not a (slap) shot against Alberta separatists
Article content
Former premier Kenney wrote that he suspects the Venn diagram of 'hard-core Alberta separatists, anti-vaxers, MAGA North enthusiasts and anti-Ukraine types' would be a circle, and in so doing, he was tapping into the stereotype that personifies the province's perception problem. A distinct and obvious group has become a de facto caricature: red-necked, right-wing, oil-based, freedom convoy supporters who hate all that Ottawa is and does.
Article content
Surely, some of those folks still take pride in singing O Canada before a hockey game. It's an anthem, not a referendum.
Article content
It's also a safe bet that much of Canada is not aware that in hockey parlance, Edmonton would be a gritty left winger, and as such, it bucks the province's political trends. Though the right-wing United Conservative Party formed a majority government with 49 seats in the 2023 provincial election, all 20 Edmonton ridings and two in neighbouring bedroom communities were won by New Democrats. And in the May federal election, Conservatives took 34 of 37 seats in Alberta, but Edmonton Centre was won by a Liberal, Edmonton Strathcona by a New Democrat.
Article content
Article content
It stands to reason, then, that a chunk of those voices inside Rogers Place would belong to people whose politics skew away from the right side of the ice. But to suggest the majority has been singing support for confederation at this uncomfortable political juncture? Seems a stretch.
Article content
That theory might have held more water when U.S. President Donald Trump put his '51st state' nonsense on repeat and Canadians in every province felt threatened. Today, though, Occam's razor would point elsewhere.
Article content
The Montreal Canadiens were the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup in 1993. The Oilers took the Florida Panthers to Game 7 of the Final last spring and lost. They went the distance with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and dropped that one, too. Once again this spring, the Oilers are the last Canadian team standing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Should you feel compelled to link the fervour behind an anthem to a particular motivation, that's as simple and as good as any of them. Edmonton hockey fans want their team to win and will buy wildly over-priced tickets and beverages, cheer, stomp their feet and sing the anthem for all they're worth as a means of getting into the spirit and furthering the cause.
Article content
Article content
It all happened again on Saturday before the Oilers and Panthers go at it in Game 5 of the Final in Edmonton's downtown puck palace (and will hopefully happen again Friday night for Game 7). Anthem singer Robert Clark, embedded in the Rogers Place pews, will belt out the first 15 words of O Canada before handing over the mic to about 18,000 backup singers who will bring it home with glowing hearts and gusto.
Article content
They won't all be singing from the same song sheet politically, and the team they support might lose another shot at the Cup, but the sound of a Rogers Place anthem at playoff time is hard to beat. So you can sing and enjoy it at face value, or you can pick your side of the debate and blast off a rejoinder on social media. It's a free country.
