"CFSA will not provide athletes for the IFSA contest in Quebec City," CFSA President Hugo Girard told IronMind®, referring to the IFSA World Championships scheduled for later this year.

Girard has gone on record as feeling that strongman needs to develop as a sport, rather than as a form of entertainment modeled after professional wrestling, and he feels IFSA is taking the latter direction.

"When I compete, I represent myself and my country," Girard said. "We don't need stage names to perform," he said, referring to IFSA giving its athletes names like 'The Hammer,' 'The Straightjacket,' 'The Freak Show' and 'The Wolverine.'

"I don't need to be called 'The Lumberjack' or 'Robocop' to get attention," Girard said, emphasizing that he feels this approach does little "to generate pride among your fellow citizens."

"I am an athlete, not a clown," Girard said. "If I wanted to be a clown, I would join Cirque Du Soleil."

The lack of CFSA competitors in Quebec City would be a huge political statement in the strongman world and it would immediately eliminate some of the world's top strongmen, who just happen to be Canadian: Between them, Hugo Girard and Jessen Paulen, for example, have nine World's Strongest Man contests under their belts.