Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie's latest attempt to land an NHL franchise and relocate it to Southern Ontario and the league's attempts to prevent him from doing so continued to stoke speculation that the league's brain trust, specifically Commissioner Gary Bettman, have an "anti-Canadian" bias.

They cite the loss of the Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets as proof positive of this supposed bias, claiming Bettman didn't do enough, or anything at all, to save those franchises.

Of course that claim overlooks the stark reality that, while those franchises had strong fan support, they didn't have enough of it to survive in the expanding NHL market.

It also overlooks the fact that Bettman, with his supposed anti-Canadian bias, actually helped save the Ottawa Senators when the club went bankrupt midway through the 2002-03 season. Here's what Bettman said about the Senators when interviewed during the All-Star Game:

'We want it to stay put where it is. We don't have complete, unfettered control, but we have a fair amount of influence, all of which we intend to use.''

Which, of course, Bettman used, as he and the Board of Governors did what it could to keep the Senators in Ottawa.

Lacrosse may officially be Canada's national sport but it's really hockey that is the passion of Canadian sport fans, so why doesn't the NHL have more than six franchises in Canada? It comes down to population.

A quick look at the 100 largest metropolitan areas (based on the 2006 census) in Canada reveals  only six Canadian cities - Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton - have metropolitan populations in excess of 1 million.

Rounding out the top ten are Quebec City (over 715,000), Winnipeg (almost 695,000), Hamilton (over 692,000) and London (over 457,000).

Compare that list with the top 25 metropolitan areas in the United States and it becomes clear why there aren't more NHL franchises in Canada.

So why then is Balsillie trying to move a team to Hamilton? Because it is located halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, NY, smack in the middle of the densely populated "Golden Horseshoe", containing 75% of Ontario's population and 25% of Canada's population.

In other words, the population demographics are there to support an NHL franchise.

So why hasn't the NHL located a franchise there before?  Because the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, past and present, aren't keen about the idea of another NHL franchise operating in the Golden Triangle, which they consider their backyard.

So much for Gary Bettman's "anti-Canadian" bias.