Tag Archives: Winnipeg

Stag & Does/ Jack & Jills/ Socials

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Over the past weekend I went to a Stag & Doe, my second since moving to Southern Ontario.  Stag & Does, also known as Jack & Jills or Socials (in Winnipeg) are a central Canadian pre-wedding tradition.  Basically, the idea is an engaged couple will throw a fundraising party to help cover the costs of their upcoming wedding.  It’s a way for the couple’s community to come together to support them while having a great party.

While like any wedding tradition there is a lot of room to customize the event, Stag & Does seem to have some common general features (based on the two I’ve attended and my limited internet research).  They are held primarily as a fundraising event.  And as the name suggests, they are co-ed.  To attend you usually need a ticket and you need to be prepared to take part in some games and draws over the course of the party.  Stag & Does tend to be organized by the bridal party, but sometimes the bride and groom themselves will host them.  And the invitations for Stag & Does often go much further than the wedding invitation list so it is a way for acquaintances and colleagues to celebrate the upcoming wedding along with closer friends and family.  Hosting a Stag & Doe doesn’t preclude you from other wedding traditions (like Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, bridal showers, etc.) although sometimes it will take the place of an engagement party. 

The two Stag & Does that I’ve been to were quite different.  One was a backyard, afternoon barbeque/keg party in suburban Toronto and the most recent one was held at the Legion in Waterloo (adding a whole other layer to the southern Ontario cultural experience).  The first Stag & Doe I attended was fairly casual and admission was the main component of the fundraising with food and beer included.  Last weekend was a more structured event with fundraising included in admission, drinks and games.  The games included a entrance draw, mini-golf, horse races, Canadian Tire money jar guess, draw for a lottery tree, and draws for a range of prizes (we tripled our number of board games in that draw – we now have 3). 

In both cases, one partner in the to-be-wed couple was still a student, so a bit of fundraising actually sense.  However, according to my Winnipeg expert, Socials are held for everyone regardless of whether a couple actually could use a bit of extra cash to have a wedding.  I’m not sure if that is the case with Southern Ontario Stag & Does or if they are done on a more “as needed” basis.  As well, in both cases, while I know the couple I had/have no expectation of a wedding invitation.  The draw is a great party with lots of people, a unique experience and chance to win prizess while experiencing a regional wedding tradition.

Professional hockey and collective ownership

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With the actual crisis and the realization that having hockey teams in the American South might not be a great business model after all, Quebec City has started dreaming about a possible return of its beloved Nordiques. In this context, I would like to propose a different perspective on our national sport. In my humble and quite utopian opinion, NHL teams could very well become tools to promote some key values and play a positive role in our communities.

Will the Nordiques come back to Quebec City?

Will the Nordiques come back to Quebec City?

With a Canadian dollar around 70 cents, increasing player salaries, no salary cap and a very old arena (the Colisée holds only 15 000 seats and its corporate boxes are few in number and poor in quality), the owners took the decision to sell the team. The Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, became the Avalanche and won two Stanley Cups since then (yes, it still hurts…). At the time, both the Federal and the Provincial governments had refused to pay for a new building. In the last 15 years, the economic situation has dramatically changed, the city suffers very little from the actual crisis and the Canadian dollar is very strong. In this context, the actual mayor has decided to make the construction of a new arena a priority. Talks in town are now centered on finding a new owner that would bring the NHL back to la Vieille Capitale. However, one might ask, are rich individuals or powerful corporations the only mean to re-establish professional hockey in Quebec City? I think not.

We should reconsider our obsession with privately owned enterprises. Our collective lack of imagination has let us to accept the precept that everything having the potential of generating a profit must be owned and controlled by private companies. We can and should reconsider this conception, and as everything in life, it starts with hockey…

Like almost 6 million people in Canada, I am a member of Les Caisses Populaires Desjardins, a financial cooperative. That way I keep my money within a collective entity that is acting in accordance to my values and social preoccupations. Why can’t I do the same as a hockey fan?

The NHL recently bought the Coyotes for only 140 million dollars. Let say that price is underestimated (after all Balsillie did offer 242 million), a more accurate price for an NHL franchise would turn around 225 millions dollars. If you divide this amount by 100 000 shares, it means you could become a member of the Nordiques Coop for 2500 dollars (or the Winnipeg Jets Coop if you live in Manitoba). Within this framework, many management models are possible, but South American soccer clubs offer some interesting parameters. Most of them are non-profit organizations and members vote every few years to choose the President. This structure makes it more difficult to compete with rich European Clubs but tickets are maintained at a reasonable price and teams dedicate a lot of energy forming young players through their amateur teams. Far from being perfect, these soccer clubs nonetheless show that alternatives models are available.

Hockey is by far the most important sport in Canada and a central part of our collective identity. If we cherish that sport so much, why do we leave its control to profit driven companies? All the financial resources actually spent on tickets, team products and indirectly on TV shares do not have to go to rich owners; they could actually be kept in the community and contribute to our local economies. Moreover, a coop is essentially a democratic organization. Having a large number of people actively participating in a democratic process linked to our national sport could contribute to better appreciation of democratic life. Finally, members could influence the values defended and the actions taken by their hockey club. This way, it would be easier to make the people in charge more accountable to their fan base, not only in hockey terms but also in terms of social responsibility.

Realistically, Winnipeg or Quebec will not see the return of the NHL in a near future, even less with a business model based on collective ownership. The very conservative NHL would probably oppose the integration of a cooperative. We should nonetheless consider our potential as communities to control a better part of our collective lives; as citizens, consumers, and even as hockey fans.