You may have noticed your local politicians might seem a little distracted these days during council meetings.
Municipal councillors in North Battleford and Battleford have increasingly found their attention wandering to important NHL playoff games - often ones played the same night as their meetings. Too often, meetings have run up against games of the last remaining Canadian team in the playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks, causing distraction for many of those in attendance at council meetings.
At Battleford town hall Monday, councillors kept tabs on the score of Game 3 of the cup finals between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins in between council business.
At one point Councillor Derek Mahon reported the score had extended to 4-0 for Boston. With the game out of reach for Vancouver, councillors mused they had picked the right night to miss out on watching a hockey game.
Councillors also had the Stanley Cup somewhat in mind when trying to pick a date for their next budget meeting. The councillors tried to set a date where they could conduct budget business and hopefully avoid a conflict with a Stanley Cup game that same night.
After much haggling trying to set a date when most councillors would be able to attend, Monday, June 13 at 6 p.m. was chosen. Unfortunately that scheduled meeting date conflicts with a possible Game 6 of the Cup finals, also scheduled for 6 p.m.
But Mayor Chris Odishaw and the other councillors set the date anyway, as they agreed dealing with the town's budget was far more important than a hockey game.
