He's played the patriotism card well.
I beg to differ and Im not alone. Your reading too much into the howls of a very vocal minority Gnashville. Fact is, and I speak for myself and many others who I discussed this with or read, heard from various quarters across Canada that while he & Rodier did attempt to paint the NHL with having an anti-Canadian bias most clear thinking people werent buying it. Rather surprised actually that he'd try & play that card, lowest common denominator. Rather like Goon Hockey taken to the Boardroom.
Had absolutely nothing to do with Canada vs the US or any such thing whatsoever & everything to do with Hamilton, Toronto & Buffalo, Balsillies methodology. His PR campaign in Southern Ontario bordered on total amateur hour, surprising in that he was then CEO, co-founder of a cutting edge wireless telecom giant with fairly sophisticated & higher end marketing & promotional platforms, delivery systems. Yet when it came to anything to do with his pursuit of an NHL franchise, it was all "cheaped out". Cloyingly annoying words like "under-served", creative be it the website or printed material just haphazardly looking like it had been slapped together over a weekend by teenagers. The oily Richard Rodier out making the media rounds never looking anyone in the eyeball.
Ron Joyce is mentioned up-page I see, and ya, he has made negative comments over the years, notably during the mid-90's when the CDN$ cratering & the institution of the NHL Equalization Program; prior to the Lockouts when the NHL finally managed to bring in some cost certainty that no, he was actually in retrospect "happy" that he didnt win a franchise in the early 90's. That the numbers didnt add up. Again critical when Balsillie was vying for a team. I think he was being negative for the purpose of simply criticizing the NHL in general but his comments certainly didnt help Hamilton in any way looking forward. The NHL used his words against Hamilton proponents in stating repeatedly that Hamilton wasnt a viable market. And of course as the years passed bye, Copps/1st Ontario aging, now according to the league, no longer have a suitable NHL arena which is absolute nonsense but there ya go.
As Phil Esposito said after the Ottawa~Tampa Expansion when Joyce & Hamilton denied...
"Hamilton didnt get a team because of Toronto and Buffalo. Period. Toronto and Buffalo were very, very upset that Hamilton was even being considered because of Territorial Rights"..... Seymour Knox III told Joyce in no uncertain terms
"as long as I'm alive theres no way I'd allow it" (or words to that affect). All kinds of anecdotal inf available in old media reports, in biographies, books, papers written, you name it. The truth is out there and it has nothing to do with Canada vs USA for the favor of the NHL & where it expands to or removes & relocates franchises to. Its all about the $$$. The specific market. Border irrelevant.
Heres an older piece on Expansion, Hamilton etc:
www.canada.com/story.html?id=a7fb7904-01ce-40fc-b283-ff7930ad7cdc