David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada

[MsZem]

So you think it’s a good idea to throw Public Heath under the bus during CV by saying “Public Health in BC wouldn’t let us do it” or “Public Heath in X province wouldn’t let us move the event there?”

Or scare all the members by saying “We don’t have enough money to meet the Public Heath standards?”

Is it better to leave people in the dark and have them speculate?

Of course transparency is the way to go. If Skate Canada is having financial issues, members deserve to know. If it is bound by external factors to make certain decisions, members should know. How is this "throwing public health under the bus"? Do they not stand by their decision-making?

 

[skategal]

Is it better to leave people in the dark and have them speculate?

Of course transparency is the way to go. If Skate Canada is having financial issues, members deserve to know. If it is bound by external factors to make certain decisions, members should know. How is this "throwing public health under the bus"? Do they not stand by their decision-making?

Yes they do stand by it. But they also don’t need anymore than they are already getting.

Skate Canada already said that it was due to health and safety of staff and officials that Nationals were cancelled.

The vast majority of people in Canada, including Skate Canada members, know that CV and public health restrictions are the reasons why Nationals didn’t happen.

Case in point, this thread.

It’s not the Canadians that are outraged about this decision.

 

[MsZem]

It’s not the Canadians that are outraged about this decision.

This thread is based on an interview with a Canadian who is unhappy with the decision, so... ?‍

Israel did not have Nationals this season, FWIW. Maybe they can have them in New Jersey? Finally, a full-sized rink!

 

[skategal]

This thread is based on an interview with a Canadian who is unhappy with the decision, so...

That’s why I said the vast majority.

I didn’t say all.

I’m not sure why David Wilson can’t figure it out.

 

[overedge]

Well Canada cclosed it’s borders to the U.S. almost immediately except for essential workers. Trade, food, some people work in the U.S. and go back and forth.

No, they don't. Long distance truck drivers can cross the border but that's about it.

If you're going to continue arguing about what Skate Canada could or couldn't have done under the current restrictions, at least get your facts right.

 

[overedge]

You can create the bubble on site - as it was in the US, right? I should have probably add "long-term bubble" as in case of hockey.

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, there is apparently no hotel/ice rink complex in Canada that can be "bubbled" the same way that the Orleans in Las Vegas was for US Nationals.

 

[nickp]

It’s really sad what is happening in Canada

 

[Tinami Amori]

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, there is apparently no hotel/ice rink complex in Canada that can be "bubbled" the same way that the Orleans in Las Vegas was for US Nationals.

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[Dave of the North]

As was pointed out earlier in the thread, there is apparently no hotel/ice rink complex in Canada that can be "bubbled" the same way that the Orleans in Las Vegas was for US Nationals.

The Calgary bubble for 6 curling events starts next week. The arena is not connected to a hotel - I presume they are using the two hotels across the street. They have some strict rules for these events (link from CBC):

Bubble rules

That was from Dec 8, may have tightened them up since then.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Despite adamant denials here,I still find it difficult to believe the Canadian federation could not have found SOME WAY to put together a very scaled down National Championship event for their top senior-level skaters.

Where there is a will there is a way. And it is clear that will does not reside with Miss Caron in Europe.

-BB

 

[Lemonade20]

Despite adamant denials here,I still find it difficult to believe the Canadian federation could not have found SOME WAY to put together a very scaled down National Championship event for their top senior-level skaters.

Where there is a will there is a way. And it is clear that will does not reside with Miss Caron in Europe.

-BB

I was hoping to see a west & east national championship being held. Sort of split it in two places with Manitoba being part of West and Ontario for east. It's impossible to have it held in one location when we're advised to stay as close to home as possible. Scaled down, smaller. But still difficult to pull off.

 

[sap5]

nvm.

 

[sap5]

Despite adamant denials here,I still find it difficult to believe the Canadian federation could not have found SOME WAY to put together a very scaled down National Championship event for their top senior-level skaters.

Where there is a will there is a way. And it is clear that will does not reside with Miss Caron in Europe.

-BB

From this thread, it sounds like Canadians themselves didn't want Nationals. I don't think Ms. Caron living in Europe really is the problem.

 

[Coco]

I’m not touching the rest of this thread with a ten foot pole.

Shouldn't that pole be measured in meters?

 

[overedge]

The Calgary bubble for 6 curling events starts next week. The arena is not connected to a hotel - I presume they are using the two hotels across the street. They have some strict rules for these events (link from CBC):

Bubble rules

That was from Dec 8, may have tightened them up since then.

The Orleans hotel in Las Vegas is connected to the arena, and I believe someone posted earlier that there was also an elevator in the hotel that was designated for skaters only. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in Canada.

 

[skategal]

The Orleans hotel in Las Vegas is connected to the arena, and I believe someone posted earlier that there was also an elevator in the hotel that was designated for skaters only. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in Canada.

The closest I can think of is the Prince George in Halifax but you would have to close off some walkways to businesses and business people working in the Metro Centre complex.

But Public Health here has a mandatory 14 day quarantine for folks arriving from all provinces except PEI, we aren't allowed to have tournament type events here, and our Quebec Major Junior Hockey team is not going to vacate the arena for a skating event (they have played 24 games already this season) when they worked so hard to have a season to begin with.

So....never going to happen here.

 

[overedge]

For those mentioning West Edmonton Mall, look at a frickin' map of the place. The hotel is in a different part of the mall than the ice rink, and the mall is huge. It's several minutes walk through several different public retail areas between the rink and the hotel. It's not even remotely comparable to the Orleans, and it would be impossible to make a secure path from the rink to the hotel without shutting the mall down.

 

[Willin]

25-30 staffers and at least 100,000 volunteers. Not to mention, the population of the US is almost 10x what Canada is. I would expect USFS to be bigger than SC if you don't do a per capita comparison. But relative to the populations they serve and compared to the big money sports, USFS is not a large organization and not particularly well-funded.

Idk where you're getting this idea if the evidence I'm (and others) are giving you isn't enough.

Yeah, they're not the Bill Gates of sports organizations, but USFS is GREAT at finding ways to raise money compared to Skate Canada. They have learn to skate programs at rinks for non-members that some coaches have to pay into to coach at. (IIRC some rinks also pay USFS in some way related to this?). They offer things for purchase related to your accomplishments: the gold medalist jacket, patches (a la ISI), etc. They have a lot of USFS-run programs where staff is club volunteers but most of the money goes to USFS. When I did their synchro camp way back before its current iterations (with more camps and more skaters), both campers AND counselors were paying to be there. Now it's only campers with coaches paying for a separate course. They have stuff like STARS and performance review sessions where clubs and skaters pay to be scouted. This year they did the cardboard cutouts at SA and a separate set for Nationals. And, of course, they're great at getting sponsors. Even this year when one sponsor for an event dropped out they had another pretty much immediately lined up.

The Orleans hotel in Las Vegas is connected to the arena, and I believe someone posted earlier that there was also an elevator in the hotel that was designated for skaters only. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in Canada.

Yes. They actually had an entire elevator bay to themselves (2 elevators?) That only went to the arena and a ballroom for dining. They also had two floors (no room sharing) that were designated skating only - no other guests or staff allowed. They even had to take out their own laundry and grab fresh stuff as needed.

 

[Parsley Sage]

No, they don't. Long distance truck drivers can cross the border but that's about it.

If you're going to continue arguing about what Skate Canada could or couldn't have done under the current restrictions, at least get your facts right.

There are medical workers that live in Detroit and work in Windsor that cross the border regularly. I believe there is a similar situation in the Fort Erie/Buffalo area.

 

[Lemonade20]

For those mentioning West Edmonton Mall, look at a frickin' map of the place. The hotel is in a different part of the mall than the ice rink, and the mall is huge. It's several minutes walk through several different public retail areas between the rink and the hotel. It's not even remotely comparable to the Orleans, and it would be impossible to make a secure path from the rink to the hotel without shutting the mall down.

I was also thinking that the rink isn't that big and not set up right for a competition. Also, Edmonton!

 

[MacMadame]

So you think it’s a good idea to throw Public Heath under the bus during CV by saying “Public Health in BC wouldn’t let us do it” or “Public Heath in X province wouldn’t let us

It's not throwing anyone under the bus to say "we looked into moving Nationals but it didn't work out because of X, Y, Z. Or even just that they looked into it.

but USFS is GREAT at finding ways to raise money compared to Skate Canada.

This is actually an argument supporting the idea that SC needs better leadership. ?‍

But the fact that USFS is doing better than another organization of similar size does not in any way make USFS a large and well-funded organization. As mentioned, it only has 24-30 paid staff. Their estimated budget is around $18M. As an example, the US Track and Field annual budget is 2x that. As is USA Gymnastics' and US Swimming.

Also, to address other arguments, there is no requirement to have a hotel attached to an arena to hold a safe event. There are definitely hotels close enough to arenas to make a safe bubble. Some of which have been mentioned here. Others of which undoubtedly exist but I doubt any of us knows the hotel situation of every arena in Canada. Heck, I didn't know The Orleans had an arena until Skate America was held there in 2019.

Finally, the comments here may or may not represent the opinions of all of Canada about Nationals. We have no way of knowing what most people think only what most people who post here think.

 

[Erin]

Shouldn't that pole be measured in meters?

Not necessarily:

Canadian Measurements

2001 views on Imgur: The magic of the Internet

m.imgur.com

 

[Judy]

No, they don't. Long distance truck drivers can cross the border but that's about it.

If you're going to continue arguing about what Skate Canada could or couldn't have done under the current restrictions, at least get your facts right.

yes they do honey ... ?.

 

[overedge]

yes they do honey ... ?.

You keep right on believing that.

 

[Judy]

You keep right on believing that.

No apology necessary. ?

Border nurses forced to choose between Canada, U.S.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian nurse Nikki Hillis-Walters was asked to choose between her two health-care jobs -- one in Canada, and one in the United States. She and 2,000 other health-care professionals live in Windsor, Ontario but work in hospitals across the border in...

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Judy]

No apology necessary. ?

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/********/border-nurses-forced-to-choose-between-canada-u-s-1.4935593

I keep forgetting about the ban on covid but yes nurses, etc do cross to work. You can google but Windsor/Detroit is one of the cities.

 

[Willin]

This is actually an argument supporting the idea that SC needs better leadership. ?‍

But the fact that USFS is doing better than another organization of similar size does not in any way make USFS a large and well-funded organization. As mentioned, it only has 24-30 paid staff. Their estimated budget is around $18M. As an example, the US Track and Field annual budget is 2x that. As is USA Gymnastics' and US Swimming.

Also, to address other arguments, there is no requirement to have a hotel attached to an arena to hold a safe event. There are definitely hotels close enough to arenas to make a safe bubble. Some of which have been mentioned here. Others of which undoubtedly exist but I doubt any of us knows the hotel situation of every arena in Canada. Heck, I didn't know The Orleans had an arena until Skate America was held there in 2019.

Finally, the comments here may or may not represent the opinions of all of Canada about Nationals. We have no way of knowing what most people think only what most people who post here think.

Where am I arguing that SC doesn't need better leadership? In fact my argument heavily supports that fact. What I am saying is that USFS is doing a heck of a lot better than SC financially and in finding revenue and sponsors, so it makes sense that it would be easier for USFS to hold nationals.

Admittedly, I think certain things like differences in regulations around COVID also played a role, but one can't deny that if you have more money it will be easier to pull off a bubble event.

 

[skategal]

Finally, the comments here may or may not represent the opinions of all of Canada about Nationals. We have no way of knowing what most people think only what most people who post here think.

Only Canadians who are involved with figure skating in some way, including fans, are invested enough to care if Nationals goes ahead or not.

Most Canadians probably don't care at all that Nationals were cancelled beyond saying "Oh that's too bad" if you mentioned it to them before moving along to the next thing in their lives.

There's nothing stopping a Canadian poster on FSU from agreeing with David Wilson and voicing it.

I don't have to like Skate Canada's decision to understand why it happened.

I'm glad Skate Canada had enough sense not to name Public Health officials as the reason for Nationals not happening considering we have Medical Officers of Health in Canada receiving death threats just for doing their jobs.

 

[Dave of the North]

Only Canadians who are involved with figure skating in some way, including fans, are invested enough to care if Nationals goes ahead or not.

Most Canadians probably don't care at all that Nationals were cancelled beyond saying "Oh that's too bad" if you mentioned it to them before moving along to the next thing in their lives.

There's nothing stopping a Canadian poster on FSU from agreeing with David Wilson and voicing it.

I don't have to like Skate Canada's decision to understand why it happened.

I'm glad Skate Canada had enough sense not to name Public Health officials as the reason for Nationals not happening considering we have Medical Officers of Health in Canada receiving death threats just for doing their jobs.

True, more Canadians would have been upset if the Super Bowl got canceled.

While they didn't name anybody in their press release, they got the point across that it was due to guidance from public health:

"The severe level of disruption to training of athletes caused by the pandemic and the evolving and unpredictable restrictions associated with travel and hosting events contributed to the decision."

“As we move into a new year, we continue to closely monitor and follow the guidance from the provincial and federal health authorities. Due to the continuous shift in requirements across the country, the inability of our athletes to train due to the closure of ice rinks and the number of participants that would be required to travel, it became clear that it would not be possible to host these events,”

SC Press Release

 

[blue_idealist]

Only Canadians who are involved with figure skating in some way, including fans, are invested enough to care if Nationals goes ahead or not.

Most Canadians probably don't care at all that Nationals were cancelled beyond saying "Oh that's too bad" if you mentioned it to them before moving along to the next thing in their lives.

There's nothing stopping a Canadian poster on FSU from agreeing with David Wilson and voicing it.

I don't have to like Skate Canada's decision to understand why it happened.

I'm glad Skate Canada had enough sense not to name Public Health officials as the reason for Nationals not happening considering we have Medical Officers of Health in Canada receiving death threats just for doing their jobs.

I'm a Canadian who agrees wholeheartedly with David Wilson.