Resign. The message from MPs to Hockey Canada CEO Scott Smith was crystal clear. But the boss does not intend to hand over control of the organization unless he has to. On the board of directors to play, therefore, believes the Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge.
Posted at 5:35 p.m.
Clearly anticipating what lay ahead at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, the leader tried to air the question in the opening statement he read to MPs. “I know you have questions about leadership at Hockey Canada. On my leadership, ”he dropped.
Then he gave his answer to the questions that elected officials are not alone in asking themselves.
“You asked for transparency. You asked to [la reddition de comptes]. You asked for change from Hockey Canada. I am here to lead this change. I will not run away, ”assured Scott Smith.
This did not prevent elected officials from returning to the charge. Representatives of three of the four parties – all but the Liberals – have called in turn for the resignation of the CEO of the organization in crisis.
“For the good of hockey, we must renew the leadership at Hockey Canada,” said Conservative John Nater. Echoing his colleague, Bloc Québécois Sébastien Lemire maintained that Scott Smith was “unable to make the necessary changes to the structure of Hockey Canada”. And in the same vein, New Democrat Peter Julian said he had “lost faith” in the organization and pleaded for a change of the guard.
In response to all of these remarks, the executive replied that he had the “support of the staff, board and members” of Hockey Canada. And “if the audit and governance and the board” withdraw their confidence, “I will accept it”, he indicated.
“I want to be accountable,” said the boss of the organization.
However, the board of directors is no match for its leaders, past and present, the conservative Kevin Waugh later objected: “Bob Nicholson, Tom Renney [ex-PDG] and you are too powerful […] Changes need to be made to the board. It has to go from there. The board must control Hockey Canada. »
“Too little, too late”?
Obviously, the federal Minister of Sports, Pascale St-Onge, judges that it is time for Scott Smith to bow out. She herself does not have the power to fire him as minister – the link between the federal government and Hockey Canada comes down to funding.
“Mr. Smith seemed to say that he was accountable only to his Board, not to the parliamentarians present who were calling for his resignation and that of others on the executive committee, or to the Canadian people who also resigned him. strongly demanded”, she underlined in an interview at the end of the meeting.
“I call today on the Hockey Canada Board of Directors to assess whether the people in place are the right people to bring about the culture change that the people of Canada are asking for,” she said.
Even if she perceived a “sincerity” in Scott Smith’s desire to make changes, Minister Pascale St-Onge continues “that he wanted to be accountable”, and that “perhaps in this case, accountability also means that it is too little, too late”.
On the sidelines of the committee meeting, the organization’s CEO reported that there would be a Canadian team at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Edmonton. The tournament opens on August 9.