Wayne Gretzky, all-time NHL top scorer and long-time Canadian icon, is experiencing the biggest backlash of his career. After Donald Trump’s election, he was spotted wearing a MAGA hat. More recently, amid tariff tensions and Trump’s threats of annexation, he was named honorary captain for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament. Even there, he gave the U.S. players a thumbs up and seemed reluctant to show Canadian patriotism. They say you should never meet your heroes—they’ll always disappoint you. James Jackson, a journalist living in Fergus, Ontario, has never met Wayne Gretzky, but he’s disappointed. Jackson grew up idolizing The Great One, celebrating every new record, watching every game. But in the past few months, he’s found the real Gretzky has fallen short of his idealized image. “Canadians expect our hockey stars to be more than just great skaters and amazing scorers. We expect them to be ambassadors of all it means to be Canadian: courteous, caring, empathetic and morally upstanding,” Jackson writes in this essay for Maclean’s. “With every passing day, it seems those qualities no longer align with the current American administration—or anyone who aligns themselves with it.” Visit macleans.ca for more coverage of everything that matters in Canada, and subscribe to the magazine here. —Emily Landau, executive editor, Maclean’s |
When the G7 Summit takes place in Alberta this June, Donald Trump is expected to attend. That is a step too far for one Canadian. Last month, Gerard Aldridge, a 67-year-old retiree from Fairview, Alberta, launched a parliamentary petition to bar Trump from entering Canada. It argues that Trump’s criminal record and repeated threats to Canada should make him inadmissible—and it has amassed more than 57,000 signatures so far. We spoke with Aldridge about what he hopes his petition will accomplish. |
Pierre Poilievre has called protesters who have demonstrated for a ceasefire in Gaza “lawless mobs.” He has promised, he says, “a crackdown on all terrorist networks that Trudeau has allowed on our streets.” Youcef Soufi, author of Homegrown Radicals, says that Poilievre’s words put Muslims in danger. “A lot has changed in Canada since the ugly period after 9/11, when all Muslims were the object of fear and derision,” Soufi writes in an essay for Maclean’s. “I am not alone in worrying that Poilievre will yank us back to those dark days of division and hatred through careless rhetoric.” |
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Canadian pop princess Tate McRae has mastered the algorithm. She began her rise on TikTok, where her addictive dance clips and angsty lyrics played on endless repeat, earning her some 19 million followers across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Now, at 21, she’s dropping her third album and entering what her choreographer calls her “Britney Spears Darkchild era.” The lead single, “It’s ok I’m ok,” pairs her sultry vocals with sassy, early 2000s–inspired choreography. It debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100—McRae’s highest-charting release yet. |
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