Canadian Heritage committee  The reason why we came forward was to help those younger players coming up. We want to see.... I think you can ask all players who have been through this. We love hockey. It's not that. We still love hockey, but we want to make sure these kids.... That's what they are. They are teenagers.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm a proponent, definitely, of an association or a union. I know the league cannot police itself. It's apparent. It keeps happening decade after decade, so I believe strongly that's the direction we should go in. I would like to see them become federal employees. At least they would have protections as employees.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know what their policy and procedures are. I had an issue. My son's entrance into the Western Hockey League, and his exit, were both disasters. In my son's case, he had a groin injury. He came late to the team. I think we had to drive him to L.A. This is before there were direct flights from San Diego to Calgary.

Canadian Heritage committee  Why was it so necessary to have him on the ice that night, in a game that didn't matter? It was an exhibition game.

Canadian Heritage committee  No.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, he got cut. He didn't get cut per se right away. They sent him down and held onto his rights to punish him and said, “He needs to work on some things, and we're just going to park him down there and we'll bring him back up.” They didn't call his agent. They didn't call his parents.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know where I was.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. They did release his rights and he did get picked up, but the damage was done.

Canadian Heritage committee  Right.

Canadian Heritage committee  There's a common phrase that players are called “suitcases”. They talk about education being so important. They're picking up underage kids who are still in high school. If education is so important, then why are they trading kids who are still in high school? For my son, they made him enrol in the school.

Canadian Heritage committee  When the team decides that they're going to trade you or they're going to hang on to your rights and put you down with the farm team or the level below you, they don't let you take their hockey bag. They give you a garbage bag. It's called the garbage bag treatment, because once you leave that team, you're garbage.

Canadian Heritage committee  You're treated like garbage. It's almost an analogy for what they think of you when your time with the team is done. You're not good enough to take their hockey bag with their logo on it, so you—

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for the question. I don't know if I have a great answer for that, but competition is always going to be there, and life isn't fair. I think you do need to learn how to win and how to lose to be successful. With that being said, it's becoming a year-round sport for kids.