BRANTFORD, Ontario — John Davidson has difficulty remembering the last time Wayne Gretzky visited his childhood home across the street in this small city a couple hours’ drive southwest of Toronto.

The modest home with a one-car garage in a quiet residential neighborhood remains in the family, but the Great One’s visits have been fewer and farther between, especially since his beloved father Walter died in 2021. The backyard ice rink where Gretzky developed his generational talent has since been replaced by a pool.

Now 85, Davidson still chases away the occasional curiosity seeker, a far cry from the days when busloads of children would pull up, or the time Wayne and his wife Janet showed up with an entourage, three limousines strong. The retired steelworker then lowered his hand to his knee to indicate how long he’s known Gretzky, before saying: “Wayne’s changed a lot since he went down to the States.”

Like many in this city of 105,000 and across a nation of 39 million, Davidson has difficulty squaring the child he once knew, the player who won four Stanley Cups in Edmonton and re-wrote the NHL’s scoring records, and the person he sees now.

At 64, Gretzky is now the subject of a once-unimaginable debate over his loyalty to his native Canada due to his ties to President Donald Trump, whose brazen comments about the nation’s sovereignty have angered Canadians.

Pictures of Gretzky celebrating Trump’s election night victory at Mar-a-Lago and attending his inauguration don’t sit well at a time Canadians face an existential crisis in the wake of rising tariffs and the president’s comments about turning its northern neighbor into a 51st state. Many find it unsettling that Gretzky is silent on the topic, even with Trump suggesting Gretzky run for office for the eventuality of becoming the nation’s governor once it joins the U.S.

“I always thought the hell out of him,” Davidson said of Gretzky. “Hate is a terrible word. Dislike is a better word.”

Trump and Gretzky

Recently, CTV reported, the face of Gretzky’s statue outside of the Edmonton Oilers arena had been smeared with feces, part of a polarizing debate that’s raised ire among his detractors and eye-rolls from his defenders.

“He’s done so many good things in both of these countries, he doesn’t need to explain himself to anybody,” said Brantford councilor Dan McCreary, whose ward includes Gretzky sports complex. He referred to Gretzky’s critics as being part of a “cancel culture” movement.

Not lost on McCreary is how Brantford sits in the crosshairs of the cross-border dispute. The city serves as a transportation hub — a two-and-a-half-hour drive from three border crossings — and with a manufacturing base linked to the auto industry, now facing potential fallout from U.S. tariffs.

Being Canadian

A sense of national pride led to Kat Philp launching a petition to rename Brantford’s Wayne Gretzky Parkway after Walter, who held the honorary title of Brantford’s Lord Mayor for his extensive community work.

The issue is not whose Wayne Gretzky’s friends are — “You do you,” Philp said. Instead, she feels betrayed by his failure to voice support for Canada.

“We always felt he was still Canadian. We don’t feel that way anymore,” said Philp, 50, who grew up playing hockey, attended Gretzky’s celebrity slow-pitch tournaments as a teenager and was proud in telling people she was from Gretzky’s hometown.

Peter Pocklington, the former Edmonton Oilers owner, is stunned by the backlash directed at someone he’s known since purchasing the 17-year-old player’s rights in 1978 and bringing him to Edmonton to usher in the franchise’s heyday before trading him to Los Angeles.

“Wayne is not a politician. He’s a hockey player. Period. And his heart has always been in Canada, with Canada,” Pocklington said from his home in Desert Palm. “I’m not sure he’d stand up in his own defense but I think he probably feels sorry for them more than anything.”