Hockey has political salience in Canada. A sometimes beautiful and sometimes brutal game, it has been co-opted by the Conservative government to become an allegedly defining Canadian quality, one of toughness, as the Conservatives try to remould Canada into a warrior nation, proud of being much more militarized. … I saw [the kiss] as a Trudeau moment in a now conservative Canada.
It was an image that captured the essence of small “l” liberal Canada. Amidst the violence, this couple – an Australian-born man and a Canadian girlfriend – personified an imperishable aspect of Canadian-ness, the will to cherish and embrace, not fight. The image fits with the way this country authentically imagines itself, not with what Conservative politicians want us to be.
(By Rich Lam/Getty Images.)
The Dish 