The Prime Minister's Office has weighed in on a language controversy involving the Montreal Canadiens.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Quebec sovereigntists should leave the hockey team alone.
The PMO was reacting to remarks from some provincial politicians — including most recently, Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois — who suggest the Habs have become a Canadian propaganda tool because of a lack of francophone players.
Harper's office says the legendary team is one of the rare institutions that unites all Quebecers and should be kept that way.
Habs owner Geoff Molson also commented on the allegations, defending his team on Thursday against accusations the team serves the federalist cause.
Molson said he didn't really want to respond to the political tempest, but he was quick to dismiss its contents.
"We are in the hockey business and not into politics," Molson said in Montreal. "I can tell you we don't talk about politics in the dressing room."
The hockey club has more French-speaking players than any other team in the NHL, with 11 at training camp, said Dominick Saillant, a spokesman for the Habs.
Talent, not language gets players like Maxim Lapierre, Mathieu Darche and Benoît Pouliot on the ice, he added.
Habs don't reflect Quebec reality: PQ
Earlier this week, Marois said she would like to see more francophone players on the Montreal Canadiens team.
PQ language critic Pierre Curzi called for more francophone players on Télé-Québec's program Les Francs-tireurs on Sept. 8. (CBC)Marois told reporters Wednesday that the hockey team does not reflect the reality in the province, and the lack of a Quebec identity on the Habs ends up serving the federalist cause.
"[This team is] a symbol of our pride to succeed in this sport, and I think the Quebecers would like to have more francophones in this team," Marois said, while denying that she believes that the lack of French-speaking players is a federal conspiracy.
The PQ leader's comments followed the appearance last week of her party's language critic Pierre Curzi on the popular French-language program Les Francs-tireurs, when he stated that it was "not by chance" that there are so few francophone players on Quebec's only NHL hockey team.
Curzi toned down his rhetoric Wednesday, saying he did not believe it was a federalist plot to stack the team with English-speaking players, but simply that the lack of francophone players has changed the identity of the Habs.
"The policy about the bilingualism of that team is, for me, clearly more federalist as an option than the clear predominance of the French," Curzi told reporters in Quebec City.
Curzi also argued that a possible return of the Nordiques to Quebec City could instil a "nationalist identity" that is lacking with the Montreal Canadiens.
Quebec's Sports Minister Line Beauchamp said there is no federalist ulterior motive to the makeup of the team. "Come on, it's a hockey team that's trying to win the Stanley Cup," she said this week.
Curzi has been outspoken about language and leisure in the past, drawing sharp criticism two years ago when he denounced Paul McCartney's free concert on Quebec City's Plains of Abraham.
McCartney was invited to perform at an outdoor amphitheatre to mark the city's 400th anniversary, but Curzi said it wasn't right the ex-Beatles should be singing in English on the site of a historic battle between British and French troops.
Habs say talent beats language
Some fans, meanwhile, don't appear too worried about the language the Habs speak.
"It doesn't matter if they're Quebec or if they're international, as long as the team wins, so I couldn't care who is on the team," Gary Bertleff said.
Another fan, Gabriella Machico, said it's nice to see that the Canadiens are multicultural, like the city, although it "wouldn't be a bad thing to get a few more Quebec players."
With files from the Canadian Press
