Canada only has one college that is affiliated with the NCAA: Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Burnaby, British Columbia. As such, the Athletics have to compete against American universities to find an equal level of competition, but thanks to the petty tyrants in Canada’s government, their football schedule for the upcoming season is going to be tricky.
Thanks to idiots like Justin Trudeau and his COVID mandates, SFU has had to reschedule four of its home games to Blaine, WA (which is only an hour from Burnaby according to Google Maps) to accommodate American teams with players who do not have to live as strictly as Canadiens do. The four schools that will now travel to Blaine are Texas A&M-Kingsville, Western New Mexico, Angelo State (TX), and West Texas A&M.
Furthermore, the team had to cancel its Sept. 10 non conference matchup with Montana State-Northern.
“We are all looking forward to a time when the impact of the global pandemic will be behind us,” Theresa Hanson, the Simon Fraser athletic director, said. “This news is especially disappointing for our student-athletes, but we continue to support them and advocate for ways to ensure they can train and compete. We are looking forward to creating a home-field atmosphere in Blaine for these games.”
While it is admirable that Hanson is trying to put a positive spin on this, it’s a garbage situation no matter how you look at it.
If all the games had to be relocated because SFU was undergoing some major changes to its football stadium, then sure that would be an unfortunate situation that at least had a justifiable reason. But there is no excuse for a government that has used a relatively mild disease as an excuse to radically restrict seemingly every aspect of life for its citizens, including when and where a college team can play its football games.
I’d like to say there’s hope that Trudeau could change his mind, but based on his decisions so far, that doesn’t seem likely.
