Wayne Gretzky was a Canadian hero. His pro-Trump rebrand is a betrayal

I remain immensely proud to have lived in Edmonton during the Oilers’ glory years, when Wayne Gretzky was not merely that city’s darling, but also a fresh-faced, flag-waving ambassador for all of Canada.

On ice, he dazzled with his scoring prowess and consistency; off ice, he charmed with his various charitable deeds and aw-shucks humility.

Few could doubt his love for – and mentorship of – the late Joey Moss, the legendary locker-room attendant who was born with Down’s syndrome.

So when it was suggested that the superstar centre and newly minted bridegroom had cried crocodile tears over being traded from Canada’s Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, I didn’t hesitate to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But when No 99 himself began starring in TV commercials endorsing online sports gambling, I started to squirm, if not cringe.

When it became apparent that Gretzky, a dual citizen, was on the same page politically as Donald Trump, even being photographed with a Maga hat, my discomfort rose. Still, I reasoned that in a democracy, everyone has the right to decide where they throw their support.

A month before Trump’s second inauguration – which the Gretzkys would go on to attend – the Orange One declared that his pal the Great One was so popular in Canada that he could handily run for political office here. It’s distinctly possible I swore under my breath before chalking it up to Trump’s usual mouthing-off.

By the time the so-called leader of the free world began calling Canada “the 51st state” and dismissing our then prime minister as “Governor Trudeau”, my patience had worn thinner than onion skin.

And it only got worse.

As if he didn’t have enough to concern himself with on the home front, soon Trump was musing about Manifest Destiny 2.0, with an eye to reclaiming the Panama canal, buying Greenland from Denmark, clearing Gaza to build luxury resorts and … the eventual annexation of Canada, after first battering its citizens with crippling tariffs.

Then came last month’s 4 Nations Face-Off hockey final in Boston, with the head-scratching choice of a rather bored-looking and awkward Gretzky as honorary captain for Team Canada.

During pre-game ceremonies, Gretzky – wearing not a Canadian jersey, but a navy suit with nary a trace of red and white; not so much as a Maple Leaf lapel pin – entered the ice from the US bench, not the Canadian one. He also gave the thumbs-up to US players while appearing not to acknowledge our side. Then to cap it off – so to speak – he went on to give the victorious Canadian players red hats bearing the words “Be Great”.

That was the final straw for me, and apparently for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other Canadians.

Here is a man who could have used his “soft” power to educate Trump on the inviolability of this country’s sovereignty. Instead, he revealed his true colours (yes, with a “u”) are red, white and blue.

Gretzky was widely booed in pubs that night, slammed as a traitor and a sellout. In the flap that ensued, there were calls to remove his statue from outside Rogers Place in Edmonton. A few days ago, the statue was smeared with feces. An online petition demanding that the city of Edmonton rename Wayne Gretzky Drive had garnered more than 13,000 signatures as of Wednesday.

Others have expressed outrage that in 2009, when Gretzky was awarded this country’s highest civilian honour, Companion of the Order of Canada, he didn’t bother to come home to collect it. He still hasn’t.

Over these past few weeks and after Trump’s inflammatory pronouncements, has Gretzky made any effort to explain or clarify himself or his beliefs, or defend his homeland? No, instead he has a) let his buddy Trump, on his social media website Truth Social, offer a tepid defence of Gretzky’s “low-key” support of Canada remaining a separate nation, while b) hiding behind wife Janet’s skirts.

“I have never met anyone who is more proud to be a Canadian, and it has broken his heart to read and see the mean comments,” she said in an Instagram post that has since been deleted.

Nor did it help Gretzky’s cause that among those rushing to his defence was the Canadian-born former NHL-er and fellow Trump disciple Bobby Orr.

“How fickle can people be, when someone who has given so much time and effort to Canadian hockey is treated in such a way?” Orr wrote in an op-ed for the Toronto Sun. “Listen, we all have our personal beliefs when it comes to things like religion and politics. Wayne respects your right to your beliefs – why can’t you respect his?”

As the Globe and Mail sports columnist Cathal Kelly writes of Gretzky: “He’s a 64-year-old man of the world of now, creased by experience and not much the better for it. He’s an other-direction carpet bagger, a golf world hanger-on and a Mar-a-Lago regular. When you see Mr Gretzky up close now, the first word that leaps to mind is ‘louche’.

“As of about a month ago, he is the polar opposite of what Canada wants in a representative.”

Gretzky is hardly a naif, having stick-handled his way through countless interviews over the past more than 45 years. Widely credited for his vision, his ability to “skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been”, Gretzky had to have anticipated how this would play out with the folks back home.

His silence makes clear to Canadians, if not the entire world, he no longer gives a puck.