Subcommittee on Sports-Related Concussions in Canada Committee on May 1st, 2019

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Commissioner.

We are going to be moving to our second round.

We only have about 15 minutes left so the members are going to have about three minutes for questions in this round.

We're going to the Conservatives, and Mr. Len Webber.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here today.

I have to say, Mr. Bettman, that your predecessor, Mr. John Ziegler, was a great man. He allowed the Atlanta Flames to come to Calgary, and I have since been a big fan of the Calgary Flames, so I thank him for that.

[Gary Bettman]

We appreciate the ownership of the Calgary Flames. We miss Harley Hotchkiss and the other owners who have passed away.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Absolutely.

[Gary Bettman]

Your franchise is in good hands with Murray Edwards and his partners.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Great. We just need a new arena, so help us with that.

[Gary Bettman]

Yes, you do, but I assume that's for a different committee.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Also, our fan favourite, Mr. Johnny Gaudreau, is probably one of the smallest players in the league, and I think you need to put a rule in place where if anyone touches him, they should be suspended for many days.

[Gary Bettman]

Can I get back to you on that?

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Sure. Thank you.

You mentioned Dr. Charles Tator whom you work with and also Eric Lindros. Dr. Tator was here on February 20 to testify, and he gave us a number of recommendations. I looked at one here.

His recommendation to us as a committee, or as a government, is to ensure that there's adequate compensation for injured athletes employed by teams who do not recover from concussions. We talked a bit about this. Ms. Fortier talked about the supports post-career.

His recommendation is basically that there should be some compensation for concussion injuries, which may be lifelong, and that we as a government should legislate that teams in these leagues should cover lifetime costs of care for post-concussion brain damage.

You have mentioned some other supports that you have for retired hockey players, but what about the compensation for people who are suffering from this?

[Gary Bettman]

Certainly in the United States if you're suffering a work-related injury there's workers' compensation and other insurance programs like that. Actually, under the settlement we just did resolving the concussion litigation, players who want to get tested can be tested to see if they have any sort of cognitive impairment.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Webber.

We're going to be moving over to—

[Gary Bettman]

Excuse me. I have one other thing.

There is also career-ending disability insurance, and our players have, for the most part, guaranteed contracts.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Excellent. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

We go to the Liberals, and Dr. Eyolfson.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bettman, for coming.

I'm an emergency physician. I practised for 20 years. I'm familiar with head injuries in sporting and non-sporting events. I've seen injuries in football, rugby, soccer and hockey, but hockey is the only sport I've seen where, getting back to this issue, fighting is at the very least tolerated. It's against the rules, but it's still tolerated.

Mr. Fisher made a very good point that younger players do like to emulate older players. We had testimony from some younger players. Some of them aspire to be pro hockey players, and it's against the rules, but some of them have been victims of this violence.

You say we're at an all-time low for fighting, that it's 85% fight-free. Myself, I would say that 15% have fighting, and that's 15% too much.

This is an act that is a criminal act in any other setting with perhaps the exception of the fighting sports like boxing. This could be removed from NHL hockey with the stroke of a pen.

[Gary Bettman]

Well, actually, with all due respect, it couldn't be removed with the stroke of a pen because it would have to be agreed to by the players, through the players—

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

No, sir. The players, sir, don't make the rules. I have played a number of sports. I have never played a sport where, as a player, I had any say in the rules.

In other forms of hockey, like Olympic hockey, you don't see fighting. The NHL could make these rules that completely remove fighting from hockey, completely—

[Gary Bettman]

Actually—

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

—so why don't you?

[Gary Bettman]

With all due respect, under the federal labour laws, particularly in the United States, the rules of our game are mandatory subjects of collective bargaining.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB]

Yes.

[Gary Bettman]

With respect to the elimination.... It's interesting to say that we tolerate it, but it's a penalty. The answer is that it is penalized.

The question you would have to ask is: What would be the consequence of that act? With the—