The 'refused' part sounds fairly subjective.
Perhaps he felt more comfortable around people speaking french?
Other posters say he's from New Brunswick...are you sure you were talking to the right guy?
To answer a few of my critics, or at least those who will listen to reason. I didn't make a stupid Don Cherry type comment about french player being soft or visors or another crap. If that's how it came across, I apologise.
Secondly, last I checkecd, Bourdon was playing in the QMJHL, the Q standing for Quebec. Sure it covers the maritimes, but a good majority of the players there are francophone. I also know that Bourdon's from NB. He brought it up actually, one I was telling him if he had started looking at a place in Vancouver. He commented on the price difference for houses between Vancouver and NB.
What I meant about the chip on his shoulder was about some of the comments he made. I asked him if it was difficult for players who wer francophone to mesh with the rest of team. He said that he and the other francophone players had to stick together t take care of each other, because some people try to take advantage of them or don't take them as seriously as the english speaking kids. To me that says he feels he has something to prove, hence I felt like he has a chip on his shoulder. I love Quebec, being from a francophone country myself, and I spent 4 months there, but quite a few of them have this " the rest of Canada is out to get us" attitude. If Bourdon feels like he has to prove that he can excel, I think it's a good thing.
He's a nice guy though. He spent half an hour with another teams fan just talking and giving hockey advice, not many 1st round draft picks will do that.