After two days of turmoil, Carey Price persists and signs. Defending his “own opinions”, he continues to denounce Bill C-21, and although he assures that he has never acted “out of disrespect for anyone”, he does not deny his support at Canadian Coalition for Gun Rights (CCFR). This despite the blunder committed by this pro-arms lobby with regard to the victims of the Polytechnique massacre.
The Canadian, for his part, apologizes to “all those offended or upset by the twists and turns of the last few days.
Last Saturday, in a publication showing him in camouflage with a shotgun in hand, Price criticized the Trudeau government’s bill intended to tighten the criteria banning the circulation of certain assault weapons. He also gave his support to CCDAF. The latter had invited the public to use the promotional code “Poly” to obtain discounts on the purchase of goods on its website, a few days before the commemoration of the sad events at Polytechnique, which cost the life to 14 women on December 6, 1989.
Price’s coach and teammates defended him Monday. At the end of the afternoon, the star goalkeeper himself published a short statement on Twitter in order to explain himself.
“I have my own opinions,” Price wrote. The only reason I mention this is because of what is being discussed right now [NDLR : C-21, débattu à Ottawa], and not out of disrespect for anyone. No, I didn’t agree with the idea of the promotional code either. »
“I continue to support hunters and sport shooters who have acquired [leur] property legally and who use it safely,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Radio-Canada had revealed that the 35-year-old athlete, drafted by the Canadiens in 2005 and established in Montreal since 2007, was “not aware” of the existence of the massacre of Polytechnic.
In the evening, the organization published a short press release in which it specifies that its guardian “was not aware of the recent marketing campaign [de la CCDAF] nor of the unintentional synchronism of his statement”. The Habs also sends its “sincerest apologies to all those offended or upset by the discourse generated on this subject lately”.
France-Margaret Bélanger, president of sports and entertainment at Groupe CH, declined our interview request. The list of questions that we sent to the club’s communications department, particularly in relation to its policy on the use of social networks by its players, has remained a dead letter. Geoff Molson, president and owner of the Canadiens, who traveled to Vancouver on Monday with Mme Belanger to attend his team’s game against the Canucks in the evening, declined a request from reporters on site for his comment on the controversy.
On Monday evening, Price’s original post was still present on Instagram.
The keeper’s tastes for hunting have been known to the public for a long time. His love of guns too. In March 2021, a seemingly banal publication by the guardian, in which he was seen with his daughter, prominently displayed a flag of the National Firearms Association (NFA), a Canadian pro-arms group whose slogan is “no compromise”. The NFA later praised the athlete in its own communications.
“No bad intentions”
Martin St-Louis and his players, for their part, went to the defense of their goalkeeper.
“I’m not sure Carey knows the full story of what happened,” the head coach told reporters in Vancouver. St-Louis thus echoed the massacre of Polytechnique, whose 33e anniversary will be marked this Tuesday.
The memories of the drama are still fresh in his memory; then 14 years old, he was a boarder at Notre-Dame College, located near Polytechnique. “It sounded pretty good to me,” he explained. But people outside Quebec, I don’t think they know all that. Number 31 was only two years old at the time, he recalled.
Defenseman Joel Edmundson also made that argument. “None of us knew what happened 30 years ago. I know the anniversary is fast approaching. This is new for us, honestly. Carey had no bad intentions and I think it got out of hand. »
“We all know Carey, we know what kind of guy he is, he loves hunting, it’s one of his passions,” Edmundson also said. The publication simply says that he wants to be able to hunt. There is right. It’s a shame that people see it the wrong way. Carey is a good guy who cares about people. I don’t think he meant to cause controversy. We support Carey and his intentions were good. »
Describing Price as a “sensitive guy, a family guy,” St-Louis added that he was convinced his post “wasn’t based on the event that was coming.” “It’s unfortunate,” he added, but “I’m sure he had no malice in writing that.”
St-Louis nevertheless underlined that the veteran goalkeeper had “a right to his opinion”, a sentence also uttered by Cole Caufield. The latter, like Edmundson, Brendan Gallagher and Cayden Primeau, “liked” Price’s original Instagram post. Ex-teammates including Phillip Danault, PK Subban, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nate Thompson, Andrew Shaw and Max Domi followed suit, as did other NHL players.
“Carey is a good person,” Caufield insisted. I don’t know how to explain [la publication]. He would never have meant to hurt. »
And to add: “We will stay away from that and focus on hockey. »
Asked by a journalist about the importance for a professional athlete to know the history of the place where he practices his trade, Edmundson affirmed that “the people who work for the team keep us informed. For our part, we are concentrating on the next match, the next day. We know that many things are happening in the world, in Montreal, in Quebec. The team informs us. »
With the collaboration of Guillaume Lefrançois, The Press
In order to honor the memory of the 14 victims of the Polytechnique massacre, the Canadian indicated in its press release that it had made a donation to the Week of the White Rose campaign, “in order to send 14 young girls from underprivileged backgrounds to the camp. scientific summer of Polytechnique Montréal, Folie Technique, and thus help support the growth and development of women in STEM”.