TORONTO — Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles is calling on the provincial government to launch an investigation into the Greater Toronto Hockey League for allegations of teams being sold for large sums of money.
Stiles was alongside fellow MPP Jennie Stevens and former NHL player Akim Aliu at a press conference Tuesday to address a TSN report on a prospective buyer that detailed negotiations from late 2019 and early 2020 to purchase the Humberview Huskies minor hockey association for $375,000.
The person, a father of two teenage boys who have played in the GTHL, alleged he was coached on how to skirt the league’s rules prohibiting such sales.
The GTHL mandates that its organizations cannot be bought or sold because they are registered as non-profits. However, they can be registered as not-for-profits with either the federal or Ontario governments.
The allegations come at a time where the GTHL has already been under scrutiny.
Aliu and his partner Jim Nikopoulos had told TSN that the president of the North York Rangers organization told them during a meeting in July of 2021 at the GTHL’s head office that it would cost at least $1 million for them to buy the organization’s triple-A teams.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2023.
The Canadian Press
