Saturday, June 20, 2009

Molson's buys the Montreal Canadiens ( again)

I think this is good news,although Mr Gillette has been a good owner of the team,( except for not winning anything ,but mind you noone has done well for the Habs since the days of Sam Pollock & of course the biggest mistake was letting Scotty escape from the fold,when he earned & should have been given the GM title.....however spilt milk does nothing,,,So it's reported just a few minutes ago,that the Canadiens have been re-purchased by Molson's ( who by the way still owned roughly 20% anyway .19.9% for the perfectionists out there) the team with only two exceptions has not held the Silverware Holy Grail since the 1980...thats a big YIKES !!!   Two exceptions '86 & '93 where they were winners but albeit unlikely winners,on the backs of Patrick Roy.....

Let's hope Molson's brings a winning tradition back to les glorieux ,..............

  a half BILLION dollar investment ,better produce some returns....Although I'm sure Beer Sales will not be hurt by this development...........   Go Habs G0   lol

 

16 comments:

Les F said...

MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens owner George N. Gillett Jr. has reached an agreement in principle to sell the Habs and the Bell Centre to the Molson family, media reports say.


The sale, RDS reports, will be in the neighbourhood of $500-plus million, and will also include the lucrative Gillett Entertainment Group.


Brothers Geoff, Andrew and Justin Molson announced earlier this month they had placed an offer for the club. Gillett bought an 80.1-per-cent stake in the team on Jan. 31, 2001, the brewery keeping 19.9 per cent.


Molson bought the club from the Bronfman family for $20 million in 1978.


This is a breaking story. Details will follow.

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
HF&RV

Les F said...

How's this Aug of 1978 Molson buys the Habs )again) for $20 Million
here's a video from the CBC telling about Molson buying the Habs from the Bronfman family ,(who bought it from Molson's.......sounds like a well rehearsed 'shell game' doesn't it?
here's the link : http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/clips/13540/
Oddly enough ,the beer sales angle was mentioned back thentoo.......lol (see I'm a beleiver in the conspiract theory I guess..........hahahahahah or just a Montrealer wondering what the angle:
We're not like that are we ?? HF&RV

john allison said...

Well what goes around comes around. Maybe back to "THE GOOD OLD DAYS"... We can always hope!!!!!! They never should have been sold anyways. The Canadians and Molson's go together like (fill in the blank)!!!!!!

john allison said...

Les some of us worked with one of the Molson ymembers before and after they sold The Canadians. ysold the club to the Bronfman's because of tax reasons. Molson's family members made $6,000,000.00 in non taxable capital gains, I believe just the day before the capital gains tax came into effect. Canada had no capital gains tax before that time.....

Les F said...

Funny how that happens eh? .........hahahaha Thanks for the info Winston
and how's the saying go....the Rich get Richer,..... but like Leonard Cohen's song says 'Everybody Knows,that's, how it goes" HF&RV

David Flood said...

Montreal Quebec (CP) -
A seven-year-old Montreal, Quebec boy was at the center of a Montreal city courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents & the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law & regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents & he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy alleged they had also beaten him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family & learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references & confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Montreal Canadiens, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.
:>)

PS. Its only about $440 Mil in REAL money...ha :>)

john allison said...

Oh for crying out loud.... You got me on that one... I am laughing so hard, I can hardly see the keyboard... WAY TO GO.... Got me...HOOK....LINE.....and SINKER!!!!!!!

Les F said...

Yes I was sure that I had heard that the Habs were purchased by the Molson Family.......
the Molson Family has a very storied history in Quebec,.from setting up Hospitals & getting the elite of the day to participate in building the City of Montreal. The Molson family always were front & center in the building of Montreal,they contributed greatly to Montreal's Hospitals ,Banks ,and Hotels at one time aside from there own Family business of Brewing Beer. A good read is the "Saga of the Molson " family......they were always a great famly to promote 'well being' for Montrealer's with their sharing of their wealth.......A very nice legacy for an english family,to share with all the inhabitants of the day,......Sure showed good insight to embrace everyone ,rather than the alternative groups ,who didn't fare as well,in the Sharing Department.......These family's were some of the founding family's of the whole country................For those interested,then pick up a copy of the Molson Saga & find out ,just how neat these families were & how unselfish,great stories to read.
THE MOLSON SAGA 1763-1983.
Woods, Shirley E.

Toronto, Doubleday, c1983. 370pp, cloth, $24.95, ISBN 0-385-17863-8. CIP

Grades 12 and up
Reviewed by Paul White

Volume 13 Number 1
1985 January



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Molson Saga, by Shirley E. Woods Jr., is a book that will delight both the student of history and the casual reader. This book traces the evolution of the Molson empire from its beginnings in the late 1700s to 1983.

Woods has done more than chronicle the development of what has become one of the world's largest brewery conglomerates. He has detailed the history of Quebec and its influence on the Montreal business community through the eyes of the Molson family.

The hopes and fears of the business community are revealed concerning such significant historical events as the War of 1812, the Lower Canadian Rebellion in the 1830s, Confederation, and the two world wars of this century.

The reasons why the Molsons acted as they did on each historical occasion are examined; for instance, why did the Molson's sign the Annexation Manifesto in 1849? How did the Molsons cope with the restrictions of prohibition?

Woods reveals that the Molsons did not restrict their interests to brewing and distilling. They operated one of the first and most successful St. Lawrence River shipping companies. They have had family members serve as members of legislatures and as senators. In this century, they have owned and played prominent roles in the daily operations of the Montreal Canadiens hockey club.

The Molson Saga is full of other interesting pieces of trivia about the Molson family, such as the fact that Harry Molson died on the Titanic. Perhaps the only shortcoming of the book is that there are no footnotes. But this is not necessarily a serious fault because Woods explains in the introduction that all sources come from the private papers of the Molson family.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul White, North York, Ont.
I also read a book ,mostly hijacked from this one by one of the Molson family (Katherine maybe ???)
In anycase it's nice to read actual recounts ,& not just suggested stories)
The Molson's are just one of the family's that are or were extremely instrumental in the founding of the country we know as Canada.................... I'll post the ISBN number of the book,shortly,if anyone has an interest.................................................HF&RV

Les F said...

For years this was a standard Leafs joke........ahhhh can't say I appreciate the reversal..............hahahahaha lol

David Flood said...

Oh Well it's a universal joke now and is making the rounds locally in San Jose Calif about our Los Tiburones (Sharks) compliments of me.

On the Molsons.
I was married in a hand built small Anglican wood church in St Sauveur in 1972. The story goes that an English community in the area wanted an Anglican church. They had to fight tooth and nail with the local RC bishops to get their "heathen" Church allowed in St Sauveur. Senator Molson owned a mountain and several hundred acre sanctuary in the area. He agreed to fund the land and provide support, timber for and funding to build the church and church hall from trees from his land. The trees had blown down in a recent storm. He found a new Anglican reverend (Rev H.G.Baugh) to oversee the construction and hired some displaced out of work Norwegian wood cutters to build it. No nails were used i the construction and no trees were cut down to build it. It is a beautiful piece of work. It is called St Francis of the Birds and is in St Sauveur. Molson was also a member of the congregation

The reverend (Canon) Horace G. Baugh was the minister. He is also well known as the minister who blessed animals on Mount Royal every year until his death a few years ago. He also served three or four parishes in the Laurentians around St Sauveur area.

Too bad my marriage in that church didn't turn out as well. :>)

Sandy Walsh said...

What a great story Dave - I googled it to see if I could find a picture and I found this about Rev. Baugh-the next time I'm up that way, I will definitely go looking for the church. I spent lots of time in St. Sauveur - wish I had looked around more. We would always buy bread and baked beans from the bakery before we returned to Montreal on Sunday night.

http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7d3b6b32-e652-4e28-b802-a78020c7a62b

David Flood said...

Hi Sandy

Scary.... same first name of my ex whom I married min this quaint chapel in St Sauveur.....

Hope this helps find it.

St Francis of the Birds, St-Sauveur-des-Monts. 94 rue St-Denis, St-Sauveur-des-Monts J0R 1R3

Sandy Walsh said...

Thanks - hope I will be able to check it out soon. I'm probably not the same Sandy but in those days, after a few Sloe Gin Fizzes, who knows? I wouldn't touch one of those nowadays with a ten foot ski pole :)

pauline garneau said...

Hi Guys I haven't been to St-Sauveur in over thirty five years but back in the day after skiing hill 68 and 69 or Avila we used to hang out in a place called Nadeau's on the main Street. Do you know of that place?
Was the bakery beside the church on the main street? I may have had one gin too many also back then.Pauline

Sandy Walsh said...

Pauline - we also did 68 and 69 and Mont Habitant lots of times. If you were walking through town - with Mont Habitant a few miles behind you - I think the bakery was on the right just past the inn. We used to hang out in there (the inn not the bakery) - I don't remember the name Nadeau's - but that doesn't mean I was never in there. I don't remember exactly where the church was - tsk, tsk - but I have found my way back to the fold - it's a lot different now than it was back then. Not a lot of fire and brimstone ala Father Cotter - remember him? He used to kick open the doro of the confessional when someone confessed a really big one - lol.

pauline garneau said...

Hi Sandy Our ski house was in Piedmont just in front of the road to St-Sauveur so when you were coming into the town the French church and the bakery were on the right and The Inn and Nadeau’s were on the left and to go to Mont Habitant you kept on going straight (I think).We were a gang from Verdun maybe twenty who shared a big house and Mr. and Mrs. Mauchan from Wellington St. were our chaperons. A Great Family. They bought the groceries and did the cooking and we paid our share. Mont Habitant was for Friday night skiing and the other three were for Saturday and usually we didn't have any money left to ski on Sunday after a Saturday night. Those were the good old days. I haven’t skied in years.Pauline