NDP applauds CBC’s decision to keep Punjabi broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada

OTTAWA – New Democrats are celebrating the CBC’s decision to reinstate their Punjabi-language broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada. The first broadcast of the season will be this Saturday, December 10, and features the Vancouver Canucks taking on the Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Oilers playing the Calgary Flames.

New Democrats led the call for the restoration of this multicultural service.

“This is a victory for Canadians, especially Punjabi families across the country who became fans of the broadcast and became fans of the game of hockey,” said NDP Multiculturalism critic Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). “It’s especially great that viewers will get to see four Canadian teams in action.”

“We worked with the community to help save the broadcast because of how this vital program brought generations of a family together. Its loss would have been devastating.”

“The census identifies Punjabi as the fourth most common language spoken in Canada and we know Punjabis play a vital role in the community,” said New Democrat MP Jasbir Sandhu (Surrey North). “We’re happy that CBC recognizes this and is taking steps towards reflecting that through language-specific programming.”

Hockey Night in Canada in Punjabi will be presented by Chevrolet Canada, and will be available free on Rogers Cable, Shaw Digital TV, TELUS Optik TV and on Bell Satellite TV and Bell FIBE TV.