Juno News - Why wasn't Trudeau at the Grey Cup？

00:00:00.000 Like many of you, I watched the 107th Grey Cup on Sunday and the end of a 28-year drought for

00:00:11.680 the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And good for them. It's been a long time since the heady days of

00:00:16.740 Bud Grant and Kenny Plain and Leo Lewis. What was also conspicuously noticeable at the game

00:00:23.700 played at Calgary's McMahon Stadium was the absence of the Prime Minister or the Governor

00:00:28.600 General. The highest ranking official for this Grey Cup was Lois Mitchell, the Lieutenant

00:00:34.180 Governor of Alberta. Now Mitchell has long and strong connections to Canadian football,

00:00:40.040 being the wife of former CFL Commissioner Doug Mitchell, as well as all the work she has done

00:00:45.000 over the years for Canadian college football. I would expect to see her and Doug at the game.

00:00:51.580 But where was the Prime Minister? The website for the PMO simply said that he was taking

00:00:58.580 yet another, quote, personal day, unquote. I've been involved with many Grey Cups, including

00:01:05.060 several where I acted as Director of Security for the Grey Cup game and festival. It is pro-forma

00:01:10.820 for the CFL to invite the Prime Minister and Governor General of Canada to the big game. Typically,

00:01:17.220 the invitation is accepted well before the game to allow for planning and for, you know, for the

00:01:22.700 movements and seating of VIPs. Every Prime Minister since at least Diefenbaker in the 50s, typically

00:01:30.300 attended the games and often took part in the trophy award at the end of the game. Justin Trudeau's own

00:01:36.300 father, Pierre, famously took part in the pre-game kickoff and at another year when he wore what was

00:01:42.280 called the Zorro hat. Even Joe Clark went to the big game in 1979. Marooney, Kretchen, Martin and Harper

00:01:49.540 all attended the games over the years. Harper even insisted on sitting in the stands with average

00:01:54.760 football fans and was often treated as a rock star by fans in his immediate area, much to the chagrin of

00:02:01.020 the RCMP protective detail. So where was the Prime Minister on Sunday? After virtually getting shut out of

00:02:08.060 the West in the federal election and promising to reach out to the West, why would he ignore the tradition of

00:02:14.360 Prime Ministers attending Grey Cup, especially when the game was being held in Calgary, the heart of Western

00:02:20.500 separation movement? He had a chance to bridge the gap between East and West and mix and mingle with average

00:02:27.620 Canadians in the Western heartland. Instead, he took another personal day. For True North, I'm Leo Knight.

00:02:38.060 ...

Juno News - November 30, 2019