CBC, Like Everyone Else, Chooses Hockey Over Ont. Election

Habs vs. Leafs and Penguins vs. Canucks, or McGuinty vs. Hudak vs. Horwath vs. our sanity? Yeah, we thought so.

CBC has decided to air the season-opening NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens instead of coverage of the Ontario election, as both are slated for the night of Oct. 6. While the public broadcaster says it will feature updates during and after the Habs-Leafs game, as well as during the following Vancouver Canucks-Pittsburgh Penguins game, the games take precedence. And understandably, as the CBC is a national broadcaster, and Ontarians couldn't reasonably expect the CBC to not show a, say, Leafs-Ottawa Senators game if it conflicted with the election in Prince Edward Island, or Manitoba, or any of the other provinces and territories holding elections this fall. Plus, Ontario has TVO, anyway, and Steve Paikin is a much greater election night host than anything CBC can muster up (no offence, Ceeb, but Paikin's the man). This isn't the first time that hockey's got in the way of politics this year – the federal election's French debate had to be rescheduled around a Canadiens playoff game, and public consultations on the HST on Vancouver Island had to be delayed when the Vancouver Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final.