But wait that arch capitalist Peter Pocklington owned the Oilers, and Gainers and he leveraged off his businesses against each other leading to the infamous Gainers strike of 1984 when he tried to steal the workers pension funds to pay off his other business debts including his ownership of the Oilers. It was this lack of $$$ for his various businesses that led him to sell Gretzky in order to be cash rich. Then he sold the Oilers.

Canadians have a hard time with other workers salaries, its a false conciousness , a sort of misplaced understanding of how the system sucks. It goes like this: that guy is making more $$$ than me he is a jerk and shouldn't get paid so much.
Instead of saying we are all worth $20million a season for our work we want to pull other workers down to our level. Its the same in the union movement, and non union workplace- workers are paid to much are lazy etc. if they make more than me. Instead of asking how much the boss makes we take it out on each other, hey I could do that job its not hard.

And this is particularly true in sports. Since apparently the vast majority of Canadian males could play in the NHL according to their own accounts, they can't see why the players earn so much.

Red Between the Lines

Also see my commentary on Scabbing in the NHL
Albertans choose pride over players
COMPAS survey shows province identifies with teams

A survey of Albertans found that 41% approved of "replacement" players being used during the current NHL lockout, this was compared to the rest of Canada where 31% of those surveyed approved of the use of "replacement" players.

Alberta has one of the lowest unionization rates in Canada, and some of the worst labour laws, which are dismissed when not convienant to the oil industry or other business friends of the government.

In Alberta "replacement workers" are allowed during a strike or lock out, thus allowing the employer to continue working, and virtually insuring the bosses victory over the union as was the case in the failed Calgary Herald Strike.

I agree that, in light of the value that competitive sports teams provide for their community, public ownership at the highest level is needed to really "put the fans first." I don't know if that was your article on red between the lines, though, but whoever wrote it incorrectly stated that the Green Bay Packers have an average payroll "about the same as the CFL." Not true. The Packers pay their players several million dollars a year on average, while CFL salaries average in the $100,000 or below range.