Is Canada too small for the Great One?
A question and a suggestion
Today’s post will be brief, as I’ve used up my month’s allotment of writing to draft an article for a journal stateside. It was on the future of Canada after Trudeau. Through the twists of “Team Canada,” the turns of “Canada First,” and those dogged trips of Alberta premier Danielle Smith to Florida, the topic was as hard to lay hold of as a fish on a line.
There are large geopolitical questions involved in the stance of our supposedly enlightened leaders to their American counterparts. But one thing that really burns me is the public humiliation some are trying to mete out on Wayne Gretzky. “Being seen wearing a white ‘Make America Great Again’ hat at Trump’s inauguration party” is the crime cited in the petition to remove his name from an Edmonton street. Then he was deemed not patriotic enough in his role as honorary captain at the 4 Nations final hockey game in Boston.
The clamour for Wayne Gretzky to explain “where he stands” on Donald Trump gained this response from fellow hockey legend 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. Listen, we all have our personal beliefs as they pertain to things such as religion and politics. Wayne respects your right to such beliefs—why can’t you respect his?
Why indeed?
“As both a player and administrator,” Orr reminded, “he has brought nothing but glory to his homeland year after year, decade after decade.”
By any account I’ve heard, Gretzky is not simply the Great One but a good man. So what’s with this treatment? Where does it come from, and why? Are Canadian fans too small-souled for the Great One?
The comments are wide open.
That article on Canada after Trudeau will come soon. In the meantime, a reading suggestion. Last year, I reviewed a volume of essays on Canadian political history and culture that helped me understand the mess we’re now in.
The review, “The Freest Country on Earth?” is on Law & Liberty. The book, with articles on George Grant, John A. Macdonald, Charles Taylor, John Strachan, Eugene Forsey, Marshall McLuhan, and others, can be found below.
Till next time.
Further reading
Jodi Bruhn, “The Freest Country on Earth?” Law & Liberty, August 16, 2023.
Lee Trepanier and Richard Avramenko, eds., Canadian Conservative Political Thought, Routledge, 2023.
Canadian "patriots" are a special sort of stupid.
Orange man bad, Canadian hero seen with bad orange man....therefore, Canadian hero bad.
The problem is that there a huge number of these "patriots" entirely absorbed in parroting the current thing. Someone on Twitter suggested that I might be too smart to be a Canadian. I'm not that smart but, well, they have a point.
Thanks for comments/insights. Helpful to this Yank. Sounds like the cancel culture virus is still spreading north of our border. I am old enough to remember being totally amazed watching Gretzky perform his on ice magic.