'Small distraction': Mayor Jyoti Gondek reacts to a chorus of boos from Flames fans
It's not the mayor's fault Johnny Hockey signed with Columbus, setting in motion an exodus of all-stars from the Calgary Flames, but Saturday night, it sounded as if a few thousand fans blamed her for it.
On a national broadcast ahead of puck drop on Saturday night, the Flames recognized several key members of the city’s South Asian community, including mayor Jyoti Gondek, who was received to a chorus of boos.
Thousands of fans booed the mayor as she walked to centre ice, and passed the Flames bench for a ceremonial puck drop.
Pollster Marc Henry, president of Think HQ public affairs, booed the decision to showcase a mayor stumbling in the polls and recovering from a recall petition.
“Why on earth would you send the mayor, who's sitting at 30 per cent approval or less to be in front of 18,000 anonymous hockey fans, when you know in hockey, booing and cheering is part of the deal?” asked Henry.
“Whoever the staffer was who thought this was a good idea, ought to be fired because they are completely tone deaf,” added Henry.
“You just put your boss in a very, very vulnerable and embarrassing situation.”
'SMALL DISTRACTION'
Gondek on Monday reacted to the event, shifting the focus to the meaning of why she was there.
“What may have happened was a small distraction,” she said.
“And I think it's important for us to remember that there was a bigger community that was being honoured and that was the goal of that game. I really appreciated the players showing up before the game wearing the jerseys proudly.”
The Flames hosted their first-ever South Asian Celebration Game unveiling a unique logo for the event designed by a local artist Zoe Harveen Kaur Sihota.
The logo included a peacock, which represents beauty and grace in many South Asian cultures, and the shapes on top of the flaming C invoking South Asian architecture.
Henry says that Gondek has seen the lowest approval ratings of any mayor in the city’s history, and although he admits the boos were distasteful, he wasn’t surprised.
“I think that it is very much indicative of the mood in the city and the challenge for the mayor is it seems to have transcended specific policies,” said Henry.
“It's now become more about her. The only saving grace is that it wasn't the Stamps (Stampeders) home opener because football crowds are even tougher than a hockey crowd.”
Gondek plans to leave the boos behind to continue managing municipal affairs in a city that will miss the NHL playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2024.
“I will continue to focus on the work at hand and get the job done,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
U.K. police arrest man wielding a sword in east London, 5 people are taken to the hospital
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested, police said.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.