An innocent sounding tweet posted this weekend has landed Canada’s heritage minister in political soup hotter than Roberto Luongo’s glove hand.
Coquitlam Conservative MP James Moore, an avid user of Twitter, tweeted Saturday that the Vancouver Canucks are Canada’s team in the playoffs.
By omission, Moore, who is also minister of official languages, implied that the other Canadian team in the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, is not Canada’s team.
He also noted that the “handsome” green-blue Vancouver colours were reminiscent of the Canadian Alliance, Moore’s former political party.
Montreal-area Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, himself a former Vancouver high school teacher, admonished Moore to “show a little more respect” for the other Canadian team in the playoffs.
Online, the gloves were dropped as people tweeted their support or opposition to Moore’s comments. Others questioned the story’s news value and hoped it would disappear.
Metro’s online managing editor Canice Leung said the outcry is an overreaction and pointed out that politicians use social networking, like Twitter, to reach out to constituents.
“I’m sure he was joking,” Leung said. “The atmosphere of Twitter is that everything is said with a bit of a smirk.”
In Ottawa yesterday, Moore asked reporters to “lighten up a bit.”
“I love my hockey,” Moore said. “And I’d love to see the Habs and the Canucks in the final.”
