Canadian NHL Teams Told To Take The Bus

In a fiendish plot no doubt engineered by Gary Bettman, a government ruling banned the six Canadian NHL teams' charter planes from flying between US cities. This is how the Great Can-Am War begins.

According to international law, Canadian charter flights can only make one stop south of the border before returning. But under Bush, an exemption has been made for teams and musicians. Clearly a proponent of Bettman's Southern Strategy, the Obama administration rescinded that exemption last month.

[Transport Minister John] Baird said the dispute "shows the power of anti-free-trade Democrats in the Congress" and cautioned his government will respond in kind.

That's right, in response to being forced to "create a complicated patchwork of travel that could wreck havoc with the oncoming hockey schedule," Canada is threatening to do the same to us. Says Baird:

We've already directed the Canadian Transportation Agency to launch a formal inquiry and the next step will be a direction to the CTA to immediate prohibit charter flights by U.S. carriers under season-long contracts with professional sports teams with multiple stops in Canada."

Considering the number of Canadian teams left, I don't think that threat carries much weight.

Canadian Teams Scramble As U.S. Bans NHL Charter Flights [Vancouver Sun]