Next, he'll legislate the Jets back to Winnipeg

When people ask you whether the Canadian Senate does anything useful, tell them about Larry Campbell:

National Football League teams would be banned from playing regular season games in Canada under a bill that has been introduced to the Senate, a piece of proposed legislation that also aims to "prevent the expansion of the Canadian Football League outside of Canada."

Senator Larry Campbell spent weeks drafting Bill S-238, amid speculation the NFL may be moving closer to making a full-time home in Toronto. The Buffalo Bills have been contracted to play eight games at Rogers Centre over the next five NFL seasons, which some view as the first step toward a possible relocation.

The bill received its first reading on Tuesday, and it demands "no person owning or operating a football team within a foreign league shall require or permit that team to play football in Canada."

It goes on to declare "no person shall play football within Canada as a player on a football team within a foreign league."

[...]

"There's always this idea that, if it's your own money your own money you're spending, you can do whatever you want," Mr. Campbell said recently. "Sorry. That doesn't happen in my world. You should be looking out the good of the country and the good of your community."

In all seriousness, I have my own problems with the Bills coming to Toronto. Not because I want the world's premier football league kept out of my country, but because the people of Buffalo - a hard-luck city that has supported the Bills through thick and thin - don't deserve to lose their team. (If the Falcons or Cardinals want to move to Toronto, that's another story.)

Damian P.

Posted by damian at June 13, 2008 11:00 AM