Montreal Gazette - Stars align to eclipse debate

Watch a nationally televised debate between party leaders in the midst of a federal election campaign, or catch the hockey game? What might seem like a skewed sense of priorities to outsiders - changing the day of the French language debate at the last moment from Thursday to Wednesday so it wouldn't go head to head with the first game of the NHL playoffs between Montreal and Boston - is a no-brainer to locals here. [...]

Antonia Maioni, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, noted the conversation might have been very different in other regions of the country. "If it had been the debate in English and the Sens (Ottawa Senators) were playing that night in the playoffs, would we be having this conversation?" she asked.

"We say hockey is our national game, but at the end of the day it's a pretty local kind of exercise, so that's why I think the combination of both the French language debate and the Canadiens - playing Boston, for crying out loud - means the stars are aligning here."