Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis defended Canada Soccer's controversial deal with Canadian Soccer Business on Thursday, telling a parliamentary committee that the contract provided the governing body with more guaranteed revenue that it had received previously.
Montagliani said that before the CSB agreement there was "absolutely no domestic media market" for national team games and Canada Soccer had to spend its own money to showcase its national teams on TV.
"I can tell you the principle of this agreement is no different than what happens throughout the world. Because the aggregation of your assets is the only way to build equity in your game," said Montagliani, a former Canada Soccer president now in charge of the confederation that covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.
"It was obvious when I was president of Canada Soccer we needed to take a different route and seek out new commercial partners," added Montagliani. "Not only to encourage investment, but to encourage ambition. That meant looking beyond the usual suspects to find new, more dynamic partners with appetite and willingness to build domestic football for the long-term."
Under the long-term "representation agreement" announced in March 2018, the CSB took charge of sponsorship and broadcast rights in exchange for an annual payment -- currently around $3 million -- to Canada Soccer. CSB uses its portion of the proceeds to fund the men's Canadian Premier League.
Critics say the deal is too rigid, too long and doesn't allow for Canada Soccer to benefit from the recent success of the men's and women's national teams. Canada Soccer has acknowledged it is looking to renegotiate part of the agreement.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather called the CSB deal "unbelievable."
Bloc Quebecois MP Sebastien Lemire asked why Canada Soccer did not help create a women's league at the same time as the CPL.
"It really seems women come second in the world of Canada Soccer," he said in French.
Bontis said Canada Soccer sanctions leagues not create them, leaving that to private investors. And Montagliani noted the organization had invested in the women's pro game prior to the CSB deal, by subsidizing Canadian internationals playing in the U. S-based NWSL.
Montagliani said the hope was the CPL would spark investors to create a women's league, pointing to Project 8, led by former Canadian international Diana Matheson.
Conservative MP Rachel Thomas accused Canada Soccer of "enormous elitism at the top of the organization," adding its leadership group is "out of touch with the reality of the players, and in particular the players that are on the women's team."
"I think the other thing that is being communicated to the public is that this is an organization run by men for men," she said.
Bontis, meanwhile, said he has reached out to apologize to captain Christine Sinclair, who testified she was offended by his language during the labour talks.
"On a personal note I've than I was by Canada Soccer's own president, Nick Bontis, last year as we met with him to discuss our concerns," Sinclair said March 9. "I was tasked with outlining our compensation ask on behalf of the women's national team. The president of Canada Soccer listened to what I had to say and then later in the meeting referred back to it as 'What was it Christine was bitching about?"'
"To me this spoke volumes about the lack of respect Canada Soccer has for its women's national team.
Bontis said while he did not recall using that language, "I don't dispute it and my exact choice of words is not the point."
"What matters is she felt that I treated her concerns disrespectfully. I feel terrible about making her feel this way," he added
Bontis said he was delayed in coming before the committee because he and his family had been subject to threats from a "disturbed individual" for 14 months. An emotional Bontis said the individual in question had been charged with criminal harassment but died by suicide prior to the court hearing.
"Unfortunately the abuse continues by others," he added.
Bontis resigned as president Feb. 27, acknowledging change is needed to achieve labour peace.
He quit in the wake of a letter from provincial and territorial soccer leaders asking Bontis to step down given the bitter labour dispute.
Bontis, who is chair of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, remains a vice-president on the CONCACAF Council.
Montagliani, a Vancouver native, doubles as FIFA vice-president and head of CONCACAF.
He was president of the B.C. Soccer Association and served as vice-president of Canada Soccer from 2005 to 2012 before being elected president. He was first elected CONCACAF president in 2016, beating out FIFA appeals panel chairman Larry Mussenden 25-16 in a vote at the FIFA Congress in Mexico City.
He was re-elected CONCACAF president in 2019 and again in February, running unopposed both times.
Montagliani declined to answer Housefather's repeated question of how much he made with CONCACAF and FIFA, citing CONCACAF policy of not providing such information due to security reasons.
Bontis said he was "uncomfortable" sharing his CONCACAF pay "for privacy reasons."
At times, Bontis and Montagliani handed off questions to each other, depending on the timing of the subject matter in question. Canada Soccer chief financial officer Sean Heffernan also testified Thursday.
With both sides having seemingly settled on pay equity, the dispute involving the women's team now seems to settle on equal treatment, from travel to pre-World Cup preparation.
Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane, who appeared virtually before the committee with two board members March 20, has said the governing body erred in making cuts to the women's program this year and ha taken steps to restore the necessary resources.
But a gulf in trust clearly remains.
Sinclair slammed Canada Soccer in her testimony before the committee, citing a "culture of secrecy and obstruction."
Fellow team representatives Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn, who goes by one name, also appeared before the committee.
The sixth-ranked women's team, which formed the Canadian Soccer Players' Association in 2016, has been without a labour deal since the last one expired at the end of 2021. They have struck an agreement in principle with Canada Soccer on compensation for 2022 but say other issues have yet to be resolved.
The 53rd-ranked men, who organized last summer as the Canada Men's National Soccer Team Players Association, are working on their first formal labour agreement.
Both teams have resorted to job action over their dissatisfaction at the labour impasse.
Thursday's hearing was the third by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage into the ongoing Canada Soccer labour dispute.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2023
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.