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Ontario Premier Doug Ford is once again speaking out about Toronto traffic after gridlock forced a visiting NHL team to walk to their match against the Maple Leafs this weekend.
On Sunday, the Utah Hockey Club was forced to get stepping to avoid missing its 5:15 p.m. pre-game meeting after intense traffic delayed the team from getting to Scotiabank Arena.
In a video posted to the Utah team’s TikTok with the caption “Walk to work type of night,” the players can be seen heading to Scotiabank Arena on foot.
“There’s way too much traffic, the bus is not moving at all” Utah defenceman Maveric Lamoureux says in the clip.
“So, it’s pretty much the whole team walking the street,” he continues. “So, I think that’s a first for everyone.”
Walk to work type of night 🚶♂️ #NHL #Toronto #Hockey
There were several Santa Claus Parade-related road closures on Sunday, leading to traffic reportedly becoming more intense than usual.
“Imagine you’re walking to see the game, you turn around and the whole team’s behind you,” one person joked in the comments.
“It takes an hour to get to Toronto from Toronto,” someone else commented.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow addressed the incident on Monday.
“Once a year we’re at the Santa Claus parade, and with all the floats and all the cars coming out, that whole area was quite jacked up,” Chow said, according to media reports.
“Santa didn’t conspire together with the Leafs,” she added.
Following the creation of the Utah Hockey Club this April, Sunday’s match was the first time Utah took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game ended in a 3-2 victory for Toronto.
Online, Ford got in on the conversation, taking the opportunity to draw attention back to the province’s plan to combat gridlock.
“When Toronto traffic is so bad that NHL teams have to walk to their games, we’ve got a serious problem,” Ford said on X.
When Toronto traffic is so bad that NHL teams have to walk to their games, we’ve got a serious problem.
That’s why it’s so important that we deliver on our plan to fight gridlock by bringing sanity back to bike lane decisions, building highways and public transit, and speeding… https://t.co/zyx9S0EFHE
“That’s why it’s so important that we deliver on our plan to fight gridlock by bringing sanity back to bike lane decisions, building highways and public transit, and speeding up construction on the Gardiner.”
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Online, people are disagreeing with the premier’s take on the situation.
“Maybe you’ve heard of the Santa Claus Parade in your hunt for scapegoats?” one person wrote on X.
“I also don’t think it’s sanity to spend tens to hundreds of millions on ripping out bike lanes we just installed, that’ll just go back in after we vote you out!”
The American team is not the first high-profile guests in Toronto forced to hit the pavement in order to get to their gig on time. In June, singer Niall Horan faced the same fate on his way to Scotiabank Arena, while Australian IndyCar driver Lochie Hughes had the same issue in July.
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