The Unknown Poster

National Post Tasha Kheiriddin I wasn’t going to write about gender parity in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet. I figured I had said everything I had to say about the issue on CBC Sunday night and Twitter the next day. Quotas are wrong, demeaning and a political sop to female voters. Next issue, please. But the fawning reaction from some of my media colleagues over Trudeau’s appointment of 15 women has pushed me over the edge. Sorry — I respect you all, but I feel like I’m trapped in a time warp, back in the days of U.S. President Bill Clinton. During his presidency, 44 per cent of Clinton’s cabinet and sub-cabinet appointments were women — and in the eyes of the feminist establishment, that made him immune to criticism, on policy or anything else. The only thing worse is the historical revisionism that assails one at every turn. Overnight, Canadians seem to have developed collective amnesia about the role of women in the previous Conservative government, which, while far from perfect, wasn’t minimal either. In former prime minister Stephen Harper’s nine years, Canada had two female environment ministers, two female health ministers, a female labour minister, public works minister and heritage minister. Those are the same portfolios for which Trudeau is now being credited with appointing women — as if they had never held them before. In his last cabinet, Harper also named a woman to the national revenue, transport, social development, foreign affairs and consular services, western diversification, seniors’ and fisheries portfolios. (On a historical note, Canada’s first female justice minister, Kim Campbell, who went on to become our first female prime minister, was appointed by a Progressive Conservative prime minister, Brian Mulroney. The first woman ever appointed to cabinet was Ellen Fairclough, appointed by another PC prime minister, John Diefenbaker, in 1957.) Even the current head count is not overwhelming. Trudeau appointed 15 women to his cabinet. Harper, in his last cabinet, appointed 12. That’s despite the fact that he had fewer women than Trudeau to choose from. The main difference is that Trudeau’s cabinet was capped at a more reasonable 30 portfolios, Harper’s at a bloated 39, including a slew of ministers of state. So percentage-wise, Trudeau hit his 50 per cent quota of XX chromosomes. But to achieve this target, Trudeau changed the number, titles and composition of cabinet portfolios. For example, he took on intergovernmental affairs and youth himself, taking those two out of the equation. He also cleverly split some up. The Ministry for the Status of Women, for example, became a portfolio on its own, instead of being occupied by another minister, as was the case under former labour minister Kellie Leitch. Others, such as multiculturalism and seniors, disappeared. As for the Western diversification and other regional corporate-welfare portfolios, they appear to have been consolidated under economic development. For the most part, this reorganization is a good thing. But do taxpayers need to fund a stand-alone ministry for the status of women? No. Some may argue we don’t need this ministry at all. But separating it out allowed Trudeau to add another woman to the list. (It might have been more counter-culture if Trudeau had appointed a man to the role, but never mind.) And for all the brouhaha about women, from a cultural perspective, the cabinet is surprisingly not very diverse. While two aboriginal-Canadians and four Indo-Canadians were appointed, there is no one of Asia nor black descent. Everyone else looked kind of, er, pale. But this isn’t how one should take the measure of a cabinet. Yes, it should have diversity, not for diversity’s sake, but because as any business knows, a range of perspectives makes for better decision-making. Merit should count first and foremost, even if, as we know, it is sometimes not the main criterion. One of the most important criteria in this cabinet — and any cabinet, for that matter — is actually loyalty, which crosses gender, cultural and geographic lines. This whole conversation is unfortunate, because it obscures the real story of today. What I wanted to write was this: Trudeau’s picks were all competent and qualified. Many bring compelling personal stories and experiences to the table. The ceremony struck the right balance of pomp, circumstance, homage and levity. It represents a promising start for his government and I wish him well because he has a daunting task ahead of him. But that got drowned out in a sea of tweets and TV commentary about how fabulously female this cabinet is. Which is what the Liberals probably wanted, because it is a feel-good story and a vote-getter, too. Still, one wishes the feminists could stop crowing and see past the politics. Or maybe, like in the Clinton era, sadly, they just don’t care.

Hadnt heard this before: Byfuglien, who at one point last season told his agent to let Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff know if he didn’t trade Kane he would someday have to move him, didn’t go rogue.

TSN.ca Pick a side, any side. There seem to be endless choices when it comes to Dustin Byfuglien, who just might be the most misunderstood player in the NHL today. He’s Big Buff, one of the most offensively talented defencemen in hockey. He’s the malcontent who would prefer to give media the Marshawn Lynch treatment rather than show the smallest piece of his inner self. He’s the smiling giant, standing in the middle of a Winnipeg classroom with children clinging to linebacker legs looking up to catch his every word. He’s the perpetrator of reckless, violent acts on the ice like last season’s cross-check on Rangers forward J.T. Miller, which resulted in a four-game ban. He’s the dancer, cutting towards the net with extraordinary grace like he did scoring his third goal of the season on Wednesday against Toronto. He’s the chameleon, using stevedore strength to swat away defenders before popping back into finesse mode and deftly flipping the puck over a goalie’s shoulder into the smallest of scoring windows. He’s the dressing room boss, gathering up a teammate’s clothes and tossing them into a cold tub to make a point. He’s the outsider, never quite good enough for Team USA’s liking. He’s the 6-foot-5, 260-pound freak blessed with so much speed and power that even bumping another player while playing the puck can fool the naked eye and result in a call from the Department of Player Safety, like his recent brush with Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher. He’s the King of Winnipeg, where more fans wear his jersey than any other and leap to their feet when he revs up for one of his charges. He’s the sensitive sort, who, while mourning the death of his grandfather, allowed his in-season weight to rise to 302 pounds. He’s the mad photo bomber, always looking to get in on the action when a teammate is being interviewed or photographed. He’s the guy everyone wants on their team and the guy no one wants to play against. He’s the game-breaker who can put his team ahead in an instant but can also lose focus and make a costly error at just the wrong time. He’s no game manager. He’s a home-run hitter who is willing to live with the accompanying strikeouts. Just like Byfuglien is difficult to pin down as a player, he’s also hard to define as a person. And the latter is by design. “He’s a great teammate,” says Florida Panthers GM Dale Tallon, who was part of the Chicago Blackhawks management team that Byfuglien joined out of junior. “A guy that really cares about his teammates and his team and winning. He’s a very kind and good-hearted person. He’s one of those Pied Pipers. Guys want to be around him and they want to follow him. He’s got a real nice way about him, a real nice personality. I had him on my team and I loved him.” Byfuglien was born to a single mother in Roseau, Minn., and raised in small-town fashion. His grandfather, Kenny Byfuglien, put him on skates and friends and family taught him the way around a hockey rink, a fishing boat and a deer stand. Byfuglien is as much Survivorman as he is Bobby Orr. “Buff doesn’t like the spotlight other than when it’s on the ice,” says Ben Hankinson, who has been Byfuglien’s agent for more than a decade. “He loves to be at the heart of a game but not in the middle of a public conversation. “Who is Buff? Who knows Buff? Those are great questions. He’s different things to different people. But at the heart of it all, he’s one of the best people I’ve ever been associated with. He was 18 and I got a call from his mom’s boyfriend asking if I would consider representing him. So I made my calls and I kept hearing he was a trouble-maker. But I also kept hearing he was a once-in-a-lifetime talent. So I drove up to Roseau and spent a lot of time with him before I made a decision. The bad apple stuff? I never saw a bit of it. He keeps his friends forever and he’s got lots of them from many different walks of life. He’s just a really, really good guy and if he lets you in, you can’t help but fall in love with him.” Inside the Jets organization, Byfuglien is beloved. His teammates look to him for leadership. Last season, when former teammate Evander Kane crossed the line of some dressing room codes, it was Byfuglien who took the matter into his own hands, tossing the power forward’s clothes into frigid water and leaving them to soak. "I’m sure you have rules in your household," Byfuglien said of the incident. "And if the kids don’t stick to it, you’ve got to discipline them. It is what it is." Byfuglien, who at one point last season told his agent to let Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff know if he didn’t trade Kane he would someday have to move him, didn’t go rogue. He had the support of his teammates. "There’s a standard that everybody needs to live up to," said Blake Wheeler. "We’re professionals. We make a lot of money. That’s the code we live by. If you don’t like it then there are other places you can go. This is the way we do things." Winnipeg is a small place. He’s the most popular athlete in Winnipeg but he’s found a way to make it work for him. It’s no fishbowl where Byfuglien is concerned. “I was in Winnipeg last year and we went for a beer after a game with (Jets defenceman) Adam Pardy,” recounts Hankinson. “We’re having something to eat and I look up there’s a guy with his phone and he’s filming Buff, waiting for him to take a sip of his beer. I asked him if he wanted me to tell the guy to stop. ‘Nah. I can’t tell people to stop taking pictures or filming me. It’s part of the job.’ He likes to keep his private life separate but he understands the people in Winnipeg have passion. And he thinks the people are generally good people. So it works for him. Winnipeg is a good fit for Buff.” When Paul Maurice arrived in Winnipeg, Byfuglien was playing forward as part of a last-ditch experiment instigated by previous coach Claude Noel. Maurice hadn’t liked all of what he’d seen from Byfuglien on defence and insisted he stay at forward. Over time, however, Byfuglien wore Maurice down and when injuries piled up early last season, the coach gave him his chance, but with the caveat that Byfuglien play the right way or be prepared to go back up front. Maurice wanted some game sound decision-making to go along with the remarkable talent. He got it and Byfuglien since hasn’t spent more than a handful of power-play shifts at forward. Prior to injury and suspension slowing him down last season, he had an outside chance at Norris Trophy votes. Now 30, a husband and a father of two young children, Byfuglien is on the precipice of free agency. The Jets want to keep him but so far talks have been limited. Term is an issue and so is cash value. What’s he worth and for how long? It’s up for debate. Just like all things Byfuglien. He’s unpredictable at times, as reliable as an old friend at others. Byfuglien remains a riddle. Take your pick, there’s no shortage of opinions. But don’t be surprised if before long he has you changing your mind. Frustrating? Yep. Remarkable? Truly. There’s a saying around the Jets dressing room which gets uttered quite often. “That’s just Buff being Buff,” they say. It’s the perfect blanket statement to cover hockey’s most unknowable and unpredictable star.

SportsCentre ✔ @SportsCentre UPDATE: @MapleLeafs place G Jonathan Bernier on IR (LBI) retroactive to Oct. 31. #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/8uMy8nKzvB Leafs looking for some goaltending help, I'd suspect.

@GlobalNational: New Liberal government reinstating long-form census, but won’t talk penalties https://t.co/doSmGkxPwO#CDNpoli

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/gotta-see-it-maurice-burmistrov-enjoy-winning-in-toronto/ Any lip readers able to tell what Maurice is saying to Burmi? I hope Burmi is saying he took the penalty on purpose lol. He says something to get a hilarious reaction from the coach.

I wonder how he will celebrate!

If the government is as talented and insightful as the person who wrote that satire, we're in trouble.

According to Maurice, Burmi has "excelled" at the role they've asked him to play. So hopefully we can put the "Burmi sucks" stuff to rest!

Even if India had armoured vehicles, is it the norm for a country to trust the building and vetting of foriegn security vehicles for the leader of the nation? I'd assume the RCMP felt it was needed so they did it. End of story.

@darrenrovell: Adidas announces it will help high schools change names & logos from Native American mascots, offering financial & design assistance

For those that mentioned it, average age of RAW viewers is 40. Average age of SD viewers is 46.

It comes down to how you feel about the issue. If you have anyone close to you that has felt forced to hide in the closet you might understand why it's important.

What a genius move by Burmi to take that penalty to set up the goal. Now that's balls.

It isn't a choice between low scoring and 8-6. There's in between. It defies reason to want to find a way to increase scoring and not look at the difference between the size of Goalies and their equipment now versus years ago

100%. Everything else they hve done is to prevent doing the one obvious thing. Make nets bigger. Watch video from years ago and it's night and day

There is only one source for CO2 in the oceans? That's simply not true. Human CO2 is a tiny % of CO2 emissions “The oceans contain 37,400 billion tons (GT) of suspended carbon, land biomass has 2000-3000 GT. The atpmosphere contains 720 billion tons of CO2 and humans contribute only 6 GT additional load on this balance. The oceans, land and atpmosphere exchange CO2 continuously so the additional load by humans is incredibly small. A small shift in the balance between oceans and air would cause a CO2 much more severe rise than anything we could produce.”

Rogers went after WWE and made them a deal too sweet to turn down. Same thing with the Network. WWE had planned for the Network to be a streaming service in Canada but Rogers' wanted all of WWE and made them an offer they couldnt refuse. Wrestling Observer does free recaps of the shows. The RAW recap is live as it happens. I reccomend it. I usually read it to catch up on things I missed while FF'ing through half of RAW. And as I've said, if you're a wrestling fan for $10 a month, the Observer is tremendous value.

It would sure be something if Sid came out. Not just a pro player but arguably the best pro player of his generation. That would be something.

I dont get all nutty about Thorbs and Peluso like some. I actually like Thorburn who has some skill and always seems to be working his ass off every shift. He's a solid 4th line player in the NHL who is responsible when on the ice. Peluso is sort of a hybrid enforcer, a tremendous fighter who can actually skate and isnt too out of place on the 4th line. If he was out only option I'd lobby for reform. But I dont mind the rotation. He's a nice tool to have in the tool box even if you dont need it too often. I'd like to see Raffl in that spot at some point. My only concern with the fourth line is whether it dumbs down Petan's skills and doesnt allow him the right opportunity to develop. And thats why I'd be fine with a temporary shift between Burmi and Petan. I think the 3rd line is responsible but not getting as much offense as one had hoped. Petan might spark Lowry and Stafford.

Wasnt he dating a model (female)? But yeah, it sucks when you realise there are likely many NHL players right now who are afraid to come out publicly. On the other hand it's no ones business but the cause *does*, to a degree, need someone to be that trail blazer to say "okay fine, you can scutinize me and my personal life if it makes it easier for everyone else". It will happen eventually. Very proud of our Captain for his remarks. Spot on.

I liked it better back when we were in an ice age. Which was when I was kid, or so we were taught in school. Go figure. Not being a Susuki-embracing chicken little scammer automatically makes you a "denier". Its almost like not being able to admit to being Conservative because everyone jumps down your throat. Except worse. Its not denial. its being a Climate Change Realist. Or a Climate Change Reasonist. Rich hypocrits in their big houses, big cottages, big busses and being pranced around by hot college co-eds have warped the discussion away from sanity. We should always strive to be kind to the earth.

Wrestlng Observer USA Network, in a press release today highlighting it’s January premieres, announced the move of WWE Smackdown from the Sy-Fy network. What was notable from this release is that despite rumours of a possible move to Tuesday nights, airing live, the premiere was announced for January 7th, a Thursday, meaning it’s likely that this means the show will stay in the same Thursday time slot it’s been in for the last year. Numbers continued to slide at a similar rate as on Monday Night RAW to get to the current 2.1 million level. The move to USA network is expected to be accompanied by a renewed focus from WWE on the show to make it more relevant and a subsequent increase in TV viewers is the hoped for result.

'NHL is ready for gay player,' says Patrick Burke http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/14052110/nhl-play-co-founder-patrick-burke-says-nhl-ready-gay-player When the NHL brought on You Can Play as an official partner in the spring of 2013, the hope was that the league's first openly gay player wasn't far behind. Two and a half years later, we are still waiting. "It's surprising," Patrick Burke, the co-founder of You Can Play, said Tuesday. "We felt that the work the league was doing, the culture that the league had, the way our guys responded not just to our initiative, but to the LGBT community in general, I think we thought for sure by now there would be an out player in the NHL." Burke paused before adding: "I don't want to say it's disappointing because everyone is on their own timeline and when the first guy is ready he's going to do it." And if there was any remaining doubt about whether there were gay NHL players -- I don't know how anyone could even wonder that -- Burke says You Can Play has indeed heard from gay players in the league. "Look, we denied it for several years because we didn't want players to feel pressure, we didn't want to kick off a witch hunt, we didn't want people trying to guess who was who," said Burke. "But yes, our organization has spoken with gay players in the National Hockey League, gay staff members, gay media members. "If we could coordinate everyone we know in professional sports, not just hockey, to come out all at once, it would be world-changing overnight. But for a variety of different reasons, there are men and women who still don't think it's the right decision for them to come out at this time." I suppose if there are still homophobic NHLers they're not going to come out and say so. All I can tell you is that in the dressing room of one of the NHL's most storied franchises, the captain of the team says it would be a non-issue. "No issue at all, no issue at all," Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf repeated for emphasis Wednesday. "It would be welcomed and accepted with open arms in our room. That's how I feel, I would accept it." That feeling was echoed down the hall in the visitors' dressing room at Air Canada Centre. "We got a good group in here, I don't think anybody would have an issue with it," said Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd. "It makes zero difference to us whatever your sexual orientation is; that's their personal life. I really don't think in this day and age it would be much of an issue." And yet, we wait. Why hasn't it happened yet? "I mean, it's easy for us to say, we're not in their shoes," said Ladd. "It's a choice, especially if you're the first one, it's going to be pretty magnified and it's going to take a strong person to be able to do it and go through the rigors of playing NHL hockey every day. All you can do as a teammate or friend is be supportive and accepting whenever it comes." Burke has a few theories as to why it hasn't happened yet. "I think it has come close," he said. "I would say that the coming-out experiences for the openly gay players in other leagues -- whether it was Jason Collins, whether it was Michael Sam -- those guys have had let's call them up and down experiences. Jason came out and was out of work for six or seven months. Mike came out and hasn't been able to find a home in the NFL. I wonder how many positive gay athletes are looking at that and thinking, 'Is that because they're gay or is that because they're both journeymen-level talent players.' How much of that is an authentic, scouting-based 'these guys just weren't good enough to help us' evaluation and how much of that is 'We don't' want a gay player on our team.' "I suspect there's a lot of players in our league looking at the situations with other gay athletes and wondering how much of that is because they're gay." The reality, to be fair, is that while Collins and Sam were incredibly courageous to come out, neither is a prominent player near the top of their respective food chain. "Jason is a friend of mine so I have no problem saying that, he would be the first to admit he was a depth/bench player who played 4-5 minutes a night," said Burke. "The Michael Sam story is probably worthy of a book, the stuff that we know and have been involved on both sides of things there." Then, Burke said, there's the question of hockey culture itself. "Hockey is all about the team. Hockey culture hates individualism," said Burke. "Whether that's right or wrong, hockey culture is that you do not stand out. You do not make yourself different from the team. We've had players in our league that have been yelled at for high-fiving too aggressively. So I do wonder from talking to a bunch of different players in the league that this is a team sport and almost an obsessively team culture and I think there are guys out there that are nervous about the idea that them coming out would somehow be going against that." And finally, Burke wonders about his own role in all this. The man who has done so much through his work with You Can Play wonders whether taking a job with the NHL's Player Safety Department in the spring of 2013 hasn't hindered things in terms of having players come out. "I think we would probably be further along had I not taken a job where part of my job is suspending players. Rightly or wrongly," said Burke. "We (You Can Play) interact with players all the time, whether it's guys reaching out because they have questions or guys reaching out because they want support or whatever it might be. But I really do feel taking a job where I'm part of the group suspending players really did kind of make the lines of communication between our organization and the players a little more difficult at times." It's why Burke has kept a lower profile with You Can Play and let the organization's executive director Wade Davis do his thing. "What I've tried to do is distance myself from You Can Play so that they know they can reach out and talk to Wade anytime, we have two different vice-presidents there, we have great resources," said Burke. "But it's part of the reason I've done less publicly with You Can Play." The truth, as it stands, is that no male hockey person has come out publicly since Brendan Burke, who did so while student manager of the Miami University men's hockey team in November 2009 in a piece so well written by our own John Buccigross. Brendan Burke, Patrick's brother, tragically died in February 2010 in a car crash. "I hate to selfishly praise him again but you look back at Brendan choosing to come out back in 2009, as a student-manager of the college team but with a family association to the NHL, and that was six years ago," said Burke. "We haven't had anyone else (with NHL ties) since then, not major media, not front office, not coaching, not players. I think it speaks to how amazing Brendan was, but it also shows that there clearly needs to be done something that isn't being done, or something that needs to change for players to feel comfortable to come out." You can sense both the frustration and compassion in Burke's voice. "It's tough for us as an organization where we want to stand up and scream and say, 'The NHL is ready for a gay player,'" said Burke. "Because 1,000 percent in my heart I believe that. I know that the first player who comes out is going to have a positive coming-out experience. Yet on the other hand, we know how difficult it is for anybody in the public eye to talk about their sexuality in public. Forget sports for a second, you go to politics or Hollywood, any type of celebrity, it is still an issue. "On the one hand, there are days when our entire organization is like, 'Come on, we're ready, just go ahead.'" Burke said when he goes to NHL events, there are team executives and agents and coaches who pull him aside and ask him why a player hasn't come out yet. "They're upset that it hasn't happened yet, which I think shows how inclusive they are," said Burke. "So, it's tough. I wish there was a magic bullet that I could fire and make the players in question ready. But it's such a delicate situation. It's so much based on the person's life experience and what he wants." In the meantime, Burke remains hopeful that eventually gay NHLers will feel the time is right. "All we can continue to do is make efforts to let them know that the hockey community wants everyone to be themselves and live their lives authentically and be true to who you are," said Burke. "And if you're a NHL player who happens to be in love with men off the ice, nobody in our community cares, we just want you to be happy."

So how did the climate change before man burned fossil fuels?