- Canadian Football Act
The Canadian Football Act (1974) was a proposed Act by the
Parliament of Canada in April 1974 designed to block theWorld Football League (WFL)Toronto charter team, and protect theCanadian Football League (CFL). Although it was never signed into law, the move by the government eventually compelled the WFL'sToronto Northmen team to move toMemphis, Tennessee in theUnited States . Today, there is speculation that a similar act will develop if theNational Football League (NFL) tries to expand toToronto and thus threatens the Canadian league's existence. [ [http://www.nysun.com/article/64892 NFL's New Hot Market Is North of the Border - October 19, 2007 - The New York Sun ] ] However, some legal scholars have warned that such a law enacted today might violate theNorth American Free Trade Agreement .List of the bill's details
* Designated C-22.
* Introduced by the Minister of Health,Marc Lalonde .
* Claimed it would try and protect the Canadian Football League, would allow the CFL to grow and develop its own distinct character
* Of the mayors of the nine CFL cities at the time, only three were against the Canadian Football Act. They were the mayors of Vancouver, Montréal and Toronto, also the biggest cities of Canada then and now (Montréal playing host to one of theWorld League of American Football (WLAF) teams (Montréal Machine ) in the early 1990s when their CFL team folded)
* After the bill passed second reading in theCanadian House of Commons , it was given to the Standing Committee on Health, Welfare and Social Affairs, where it effectively died after the Northmen moved to Memphis.
* Clause 6 in the act stated that no person that owns, operates, or manages a team in a league foreign from the CFL shall play in Canada. Subsection 2 stated that no player or member of the said team shall play in Canada, therefore if the bill passed and became law, it would effectively kill teams like the Northmen.These facts were gathered from the actual debates held in the House of Commons from
April 10 toApril 28 ,1974 .ee also
*
List of football teams in Canada
*Canadian cultural protectionism
*National Football League in Toronto References
* [http://wflfootball.tripod.com/cdnfootballact.html wflfootball.tripod.com]
* [http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071010.wsptnfl10/GSStory/GlobeSportsFootball/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20071010.wsptnfl10 S. Brunt and D. Naylor:"Argos owners kick NFL into play" Globe and Mail Oct 11, 2007]
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