Under Further Review – Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy and special contributor Ian MacPhee in Montreal.
Editor’s Note: We’re back at you today because we just had to get this “Gretzky stuff’ off our chest.
The Grape of Wrath – The fire has not gone out around Wayne Gretzky. As Canadians, should we be disappointed in the Great One? Must he provide Canada with an explanation? But before we throw another Canadian icon under a fast-charging train, we need to step back and provide some perspective. Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here.
Gretzky should not be held accountable for anything that comes out of the mouth of the U.S. President. He holds dual citizenship and has lived in the States for decades. Gretzky is free to vote for anyone he wants. Bobby Orr took out a full-page ad in a Boston newspaper to support Donald Trump in 2020. Let’s be honest. A vast majority of pro athletes in the U.S. have voted for Trump simply because of the tax benefits. Trump has always been chummy with athletes. Ask Tom Brady.
In Edmonton, a petition has been circulated to rename Wayne Gretzky Drive. It already has 3,800 signatures. Next, they’ll probably deface the Gretzky statue that sits outside the Rexall Centre or make a call to tear it down. A reminder – Gretz put your little burg on the map. In Ottawa, some want Gretzky’s Order of Canada taken away. This is the cancel culture environment we live in where they take down monuments of Sir John A. MacDonald and change the name of Ryerson University.
Make no mistake. Number 99 has brought this upon himself. How do expect Canadians to respond when you chum up to Trump, attend his inauguration and his election victory party at Mar-a-Lago wearing a MAGA hat? To many, his actions as honorary Canadian captain at the Four Nations Face-Off final in Boston only heightened the anger. The thumbs up to the American bench. Not donning a Team Canada sweater for the ceremony because Mike Eruzione wore a Johnny Gaudreau sweater for the occasion. We need to slow down. Gretzky read out the starting lineup to the Canadian team in the Team Canada dressing room moments before heading onto the ice for the opening ceremonies. He knows his allegiance. The same thing happened to Don Cherry.
Lest we forget, Gretzky’s family is of Ukrainian descent. Canada has the largest concentration of Ukrainians of any country in the world outside of their homeland. How does he feel about Trump’s reprehensible treatment of Ukraine? It’s not as though Gretzky can’t take a stand even though he’s always avoided controversy. He was photographed holding a Ukrainian flag in protest after Russia invaded Ukraine the first time in 2014. Has he gone to the dark side over the past ten years? Do you just abandon your roots?
The Gretzky family immigrated to Canada following the outbreak of the Russian Revolution. The parents of Wayne’s father Walter owned a cucumber farm in Canning, Ontario. That’s where Walter was born. Gretzky’s mother Phyllis was a descendant of British General Sir Isaac Brock, a hero of the War of 1812 when we turned back an American invasion. Gretz might want to take a history lesson.
Terry Jones covered the Edmonton Oilers for the Edmonton Sun for 55 years and authored several books on the Great One. “If I’m right that (Gretzky) doesn’t think Canada should become the 51st state, he should step up and say it,” Jones said.
Therein, lies the rub. Gretzky needs to get a gauge on the temperature in this country. He would do us all a favour by explaining the relationship with Donald Trump and his views on Canada as a 51st state. The story can end there. Until that happens, Gretzky may just go on being a pariah in the very country you know he loves.
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