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More training camp practices cancelled as CFL strike continues

May 16, 2022 | 9:30 AM

TORONTO — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats cancelled a second day of training-camp practices Monday as the CFL players’ strike entered its second day.

Talks between the CFL and CFL Players’ Association broke off Saturday, hours before the collective bargaining agreement was set to expire.

Players on seven of the league’s nine teams were in a legal strike position at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Both the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks opened camp as scheduled Sunday.

Their players won’t be in a legal strike position until later this week, as per Alberta’s labour laws.

On Sunday night, the Montreal Alouettes announced all of their training camp practices were being suspended “until further notice.”

The Saskatchewan Roughriders followed suit Monday.

There’ve been no new talks scheduled for the league and CFLPA.

A major sticking point between the two sides appears to be the Canadian ratio.

The CFL is proposing that an American player who’s been in the league for at least four years or played with the same team for at least three years, would become a nationalized American who would count as a Canadian on the roster.

Each CFL roster would still have at least seven national starters, with at least six being Canadian as the seventh could be either the nationalized American or an additional Canadian.

The previous collective bargaining agreement, which expired at midnight ET on Saturday, called for 21 Canadians on a roster, with at least seven being starters.

The CFL exhibition season is currently scheduled to begin May 23 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visiting the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

The Canadian Press