- Mark Carney worked a Maple Leafs joke into a $4.7 billion Via Rail announcement Thursday
- Toronto has not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, the longest active drought in the NHL
- Read below for the video and the Prime Minister’s own goaltending past
The Prime Minister of Canada just took a shot at the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Mark Carney was in Thunder Bay on Thursday to announce a $4.7 billion contract for 313 new Via Rail passenger cars. Asked to explain how old the current fleet is, he reached for hockey.
“Our rail cars on our long distance and remote routes are more than 70 years old. They were built when the NHL had six teams. Goalies wouldn’t wear masks. The Leafs would win the cup. That’s a long time ago.”
Watch him deliver it with a straight face:
He is not wrong about any of it. Toronto’s last championship came in 1967, 59 years ago, and it remains the longest active drought in the league. No Canadian team has won since Montreal in 1993.
Carney also has a rooting interest here. He grew up in Edmonton, played goalie at Harvard alongside future Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli, and has called himself a lifelong Oilers fan.
Days after taking office in March 2025, he pulled on an Oilers jersey with No. 24 on the back and took a lap at an optional morning skate. Connor McDavid was asked about the visit afterward, per NHL.com.
“It looks like he was a goalie with those goalie skates. It’s nice to have him here. He’s a lifelong Oilers fan and Oilers fans are welcome here for sure. It’s definitely a unique thing.”
Here’s the skate, shared by The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman:
The announcement itself was a big one for Thunder Bay. The cars will be built at the Alstom plant there and in La Pocatiere, Quebec, the first Via Rail cars assembled in Canada in four decades, with roughly 700 jobs attached.
Take a look at the full announcement:
Leafs fans have heard the 1967 line from just about everybody by now. Hearing it from a podium with the Canadian coat of arms on it is a new one.
Toronto gets its first crack at changing the subject on Sept. 30, when the Maple Leafs open the season against the Islanders in the debut of Prime Video’s Wednesday night package.
