Donald Trump says he urged Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister
By: Global News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Donald Trump says he urged Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump says he told Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky during a Christmas Day visit that he should run for prime minister of Canada.
"I just left Wayne Gretzky, 'The Great One' as he is known in ice-hockey circles," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Wednesday afternoon.
"I said, 'Wayne, why don't you run for prime minister of Canada, soon to be known as the governor of Canada — you would win easily, you wouldn't even have to campaign.' He had no interest," Trump wrote.
His comment about being governor of Canada refers to Trump repeatedly suggesting the country become a U.S. state, which Ottawa insists is a joke.
Trump added that it would be "fun to watch" if Canadians launched a movement to get the retired hockey player to seek office.
The Canadian Press has tried to contact Gretzky through his agents.
2:27 Trump expected to sign flurry of executive orders in 1st week of office
Experts have said that Ottawa is rightfully focused on the prospect of damaging tariffs under the looming Trump presidency instead of pushing back on rhetoric about annexing or purchasing Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leads a minority government that could be toppled by a confidence vote next year, following the surprise resignation of finance minister Chrystia Freeland.
Trump also expressed Christmas greetings to Trudeau, again referring to him as a governor and claiming that Canadians would see a tax cut of more than 60 per cent if the country became an American state.
"Their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world," Trump wrote in a post that also alluded to his desire to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Gretzky has previously backed Conservative politicians, such as former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown during his run for the party leadership.
During the 2015 federal election, Conservative leader Stephen Harper interviewed Gretzky in front of hundreds of supporters as the Tories unsuccessfully sought re-election.
At the event, Gretzky told Harper he thought he had been an "unreal prime minister" who had been "wonderful to the whole country."
Gretzky later said he always follows a prime minister's request, regardless of political stripe, noting he had once hosted a lunch for former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
The administrator of this group reserves the right, along with the site moderators, to moderate all and any postings to this group, including the right to enforce the ToS, the CoC, and also including anything that the administrator deems within his sole discretion to be offensive, including and not limited to off topic or 'no value' comments, with the power to delete in exercising those rights.
It would be best, therefore, to be civil in posting on this group.
By now it should be well known that I am unable to open certain sources, videos and pictures. If I cannot, I will ask that they be described and explained. If the poster refuses to comply, their comment will be deleted. Instagrams are banned.
Tags
Who is online
105 visitors
As a Canadian, all I can say is...
Actually, if it really WAS between Trudeau and Gretzky, I'd vote for Gretzky.
A puck for PM….perfect
I'm sure Gretzky told Trump to go puck himself. Gretzky was born and grew up about 20 miles from where I was born and grew up, and he voted for Harper, just like I did.
I think that if I had ever voted for a hockey player to be P.M. it would have been Gordie Howe, cause he was tough, I think a lot tougher than Gretzky.