Well, the Little Banker is going to have to postpone the snap election call for a couple more weeks. Instead of pushing his grinning mug next to gold medals where it doesn’t belong Mark Carney will have to content himself with bribing Conservative member to cross the floor in Parliament.

Cry harder.

Yes, Canada lost both the men’s and women’s gold medals in hockey in OT. We feel for both teams who are filled with great people. But, outside the speed skaters and snow boarders/ arial skiers, it was pretty dry for Carney’s Elbows Up at these Olympics. In 2018, Canada won 29 medals. In 2010, Canada set a then-Winter Olympics record by securing 14 gold medals.

The team returning from Italy won 21 medals, just five of them gold— only the curling gold in an event played in Vancouver. This in a Games with 118 golds awarded compared to 86 in Vancouver— in an Olympics where Russians were banned in a number of events. Hardly the big push for a call to the polls.

But instead of sulking Canada can always stage another struggle session with defrocked national hero Wayne Gretzky. In case you missed it, the CBC/ Rogers hockey panel paused from the men’s semifinal medal game on Friday to subject Gretzky to a loyalty oath. All it lacked was Gretzky wearing a sign saying traitor as he was grilled between periods.

For those not closely following hockey Gretzky has become persona non grata for his friendship with duly elected U.S. president Donald Trump. Since their bond was first revealed during the 2024 election cycle we have followed the fallout here as a national hero is torn down by his miffed countrymen.

The full weight of Trump Derangement Syndrome has fallen on the Great One with columnists, TV panelists and Trudeau/ Carney making him out to be the Benedict Arnold of hockey. “Wayne, it’s because of Donald Trump," wrote Bruce Arthur, the Toronto Star TDS expert. “Yes, you’ve been friends for years, even decades. Yes, you tell people you know that you are not someone who is interested in politics. Well, about that. Donald Trump isn’t just politics. He’s the clearest danger to Canadian sovereignty in our history. You should understand that, actually.”

Others were less tactful. “@HenriAGS Fuck off, Wayne. You're a traitor. And why is the CBC still putting this turncoat on TV? He's American now, let him go on American networks instead.” (Note: Gretzky has not taken out American citizenship. The rest of his family was born in the U.S.) So, unsurprisingly, when Gretzky showed up in Milan to see the medal-round games for Canada it wouldn’t’ do but to have Canada’s subsidized media quiz again about his affinity for America, where he’s lived for almost four decades.

There were problems, starting with the live between-periods format. Even if he was warned about host James’s Duthie’s questions in advance (a journalism no-no), live between periods of that game was not the venue for a serious geopolitical loyalty test. It belonged away from the rink. As well, Duthie’s characterization of the present world situation was his own opinion and tipped the scales.

Not always a good speaker, Gretzky (wearing a Canada lapel pin) handled the grilling pretty well. “I’m a hockey player. I’m a Canadian, a true Canadian. I want Canada to win a gold medal. I’ve never wavered from that. I’ve been friends with prime minsters and presidents.

“Somehow there’s been a little bit more tension than normal. At the end of the day, Canada and the U.S. are like brothers and sisters, they’re gonna fight and argue, but eventually they’ll come together. That’s the way I see it.”

As an investigative journalist we would be the last to say don’t ask touchy questions. We’re also big fans of Duthie. Our point is the producers set him up in a situation where they’d never put a lefty liberal on the spot. For instance, panelist Kevin Bieksa, who was sitting on the set watching, lives and works in the U.S. Why doesn’t he, as a Canadian citizen, stay in Canada? Isn’t his California choice a statement about Canada? Who does he vote for? Using the Gretzky criteria don’t we deserve to know?

Or how about grilling Kurt Browning, the brilliant figures skating legend and now TV commentator. Browning took the time to praise LGBTQ figure skater Amber Glenn, an American “pansexual” who roasted the Trump presidency then flopped in her short program. “It’s been a hard time for the (LGBTQ) community overall in this administration,” she’d said. Browning expressed support for Glenn’s take.

Should we not inquire as to why Kurt sympathizes openly about trans issues during a skating competition? You know that’s never going to happen in DEI Canadian TV. There’s a double standard for the liberal Canadian actors and celebrities like Mike Myers and Samantha Bee who are indignant about Trump’s America but remain there to live and work.

Who do they vote for? If you’re holding Gretzky to account for where he lives and what political people he follows shouldn’t it be the same for those others who’ve fled to America? Fat chance.

But that’s the impact of Elbows Up. Trump told Justin Trudeau that after ten years in office his country was a dumpster fire of Chinese coercion, drug running and money laundering. That they’ve left the Arctic wide open. He pointed out that Canada shows up at the party with six beers then proceeds to drink nine. He said he’d put on tariffs if the situation wasn’t resolved.

Yes, it was brutally honest. Confrontational. But instead of considering the opinion of Canada’s biggest partner, Trudeau’s successor Carney pitched a fit, promising retaliatory tariffs and whipping up a crying chorus of people who wailed “I thought you liked us!” He talked of rallying a group of non-existent nations who agreed with him under a Canadian banner.

Which is where we stand as Carney contemplates an early election call. His polls are soaring while the punditry rakes his opponent Pierre Polievere for being a MAGA clone. (They still haven’t forgiven his BC “apple” interview where PP roasted a reporter trying to score a cheap hit on him.) No doubt one or even two gold medals in hockey would have been a final touch on this election call.

Now Trump gets to host the victorious USA hockey gold medalists at the White House or— he’s sending a plane!—Tuesday’s State of the Union. He’s bringing in the women’s gold medal winners, too. While Carney nurses what could have been. But hey, let’s go to Mexico. We hear it’s beautiful this time of year. If you don’t don’t mind the narco-state drug wars.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his 2025 book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1069802700

America The Beatable? Not So Fast, Mr. Carney