Mississauga native Brandon Bridge is taking long, confident strides toward cracking the Montreal Alouettes roster and eventually shattering the Canadian quarterback ceiling.

It’s too early to tell if the 23-year-old product of St. Marcellinus Secondary School can one day become a CFL starting quarterback, but he has a believer in Montreal general manager Jim Popp.

“I drafted him because I think he has the talent to be starter in the CFL,” Popp said. “He’s got something special. He’s going to be fun to watch.”

It has been almost two decades since the last Canadian quarterback started in the CFL. That was Giulio Caravatta, who started for the B.C. Lions on Oct. 27, 1996 in Toronto against the Argos.

On Montreal’s current roster, there are two former college quarterbacks who were converted to other positions.

Marc-Olivier Brouillette was quarterback for the Montreal Carabins in Canadian university ball and now plays linebacker while former Acadia Axemen QB Kyle Graves is a wide receiver.

Brouillette has even joked about the situation with Popp.

“Damn, you’re gong to have a Canadian quarterback?,” Brouillette asked. “I’ve been here the whole time.”

Popp responded: “Well, that’s your fault for bench pressing 225 pounds 40 times. Once you did that, you became a linebacker.”

Bridge says he doesn’t think about his position in history, but says he is reminded by friends that he could become the CFL’s first black Canadian quarterback to start.

“There could be history that could be made,” Bridge said. “One day when I do start, it will be a monumental moment. I want to start and I want to play, but right now I’m taking it a day at a time.”

Last Saturday, Bridge was four of eight for 52 yards and a touchdown during part-time action in a 26-9 pre-season victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.

Bridge gets to showcase his talents again Thursday night in Montreal when the Alouettes host the Toronto Argonauts in a pre-season game, although the Als will likely begin with incumbent Jonathan Crompton at QB and give Dan LeFevour and Rakeem Cato some playing time too.

“He handled himself extremely well (in the pre-season game),” Popp said. “He was very poised. There was no nervousness. He was very creative. He was in control. He was very dynamic. We’re very pleased with him.”

However, Bridge also had a fumble and he chalks this up to a learning experience.

“Definitely, I just need to know when to go down as opposed to trying to make a play every time,” Bridge said. “But I thought it was all right for my first pro game.”

Toronto head coach Scott Milanovich is interested in seeing what Bridge can do.

“I watched him on film,” Milanovich said. “I liked him. I thought he had some abilities.”

Popp was impressed with the fact that Bridge threw a long sideline pass that travelled about 40 yards and hit his target while throwing on his back leg.

“They brought a blitz and I had to buy a little bit of time,” Bridge explained. “I didn’t have a lot of time to step into my throw. That’s one of my bad habits throwing off my back foot.”

Popp said the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Bridge has Colin Kaepernick’s body type, Randall Cunningham’s scrambling ability and Cam Newton’s ability to wing a ball.

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The knock on Bridge at South Alabama was that he lacked accuracy and he had poor footwork. He wasn’t taken in the NFL draft, went to the Dallas Cowboys rookie mini-camp but wasn’t offered a contract. The Alouettes picked him in the fourth round, 31st overall, in last month’s CFL draft.

Popp believes quarterbacks don’t have to have classic form to succeed.

“Does he throw the ball technically perfect? No,” Popp said. “But nobody does. Most people don’t have a perfect form. Most guys who are very creative like Doug Flutie, nobody threw it the prototypical way.”

Editor’s note: This is an updated version of a story published Wednesday to correct that the last time a Canadian quarterback to start a CFL game was in 1996.