How a Canadien could be an American

We've had many rumours in the past few weeks about the Montreal Canadiens being bought by an American group/company/individual. The end has come, the oxymoron of oxymorons: the Montreal CANADIENS are AMERICAN... This has brought me to think about things and realised this is not so different than so many Companies bought out by either European or American companies but the fact that this is a team that claims to be Canadian in its name, will be under American ownership just seems so...how should I say this.... Strange. Anyway, this week I'll be looking at Companies that were bought out by European or (mainly) American companies.

Canstar: Canstar was the hockey equipment company that made Bauer skates and Cooper equipment. Although Cooper was discontinued before the buyout, Bauer was very popular hockey equipment. During the early 90's they went into direct competition with American shoe company Nike when they began to make hockey and inline skates as well as other hockey equipment. Nike eventually bought Canstar/Bauer and hiked up the prices.

Labatt: There are two kinds of beer in Canada, Molson and Labatt. Molson was from Montreal and Labatt from London, Ontario. While Molson is still in Canadian hands (and still somewhat owned by the Molson Family), Labatt has gone the other way. It was not American hands that bought out Labatt. It was Belgium's Interbrew, which bought Labatt away from its home country.

Montreal Expos: The Montreal Expos, Canada's first Major Baseball team in 1976, the pride of Quebec after the Canadiens. But this team is not Canadian owned anymore, its now under the leadership of New Yorker Jeff Loria (CEO and president), Milwaukeean David Samson (VP) and Virginian Jim Beattie (VP and GM).

Tim Hortons: Tim Hortons the famous Canadian Doughnut store named after Maple Leaf Tim Horton was created in 1964. In 1995, Tim Hortons merged with Wendy's International and opened up stores south of the border making it about 50% Canadian.

Le Groupe Forex: Le Groupe Forex is a Forestry industry company from Quebec which was bought out by Louisiana-Pacific Corp. in 1999.

MacMillan Bloedel: Another Forestry company, this one is only 30% owned in the US according to their website but being owned in Canada doesn't mean, being owned by a Canadian.

Eaton's: Eaton's Departments Stores don't really exist anymore, the kept one store in Toronto's Eaton Centre but its not a REAL Eaton's its more of a Sears (which it is) that kept the name when Timothy Eaton Inc went bankrupt in 1999.

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