Captain Canada and Mrs. Canada help kick off Grey Cup festivities in Vancouver. David Ebner/The Globe and MailDavid Ebner/The Globe and Mail
In blazing white, and splashes of bright red, as the clock ticked past Noon on Friday, they appeared. Mrs. Canada, and Captain Canada. The Grey Cup festivities had begun.
Patriots, obviously- but also major football fans- CFL football. Three downs, 150-yard field, Wally Buono. Canadian football.
Local to the region, with their hearts behind the Lions, Cpt. Canada (Jack Hetherington) and Mrs. Canada (Christine Harper) represent our vast nation this weekend, not just one corner, or one football team.
"The Grey Cup is Canada's national game. It represents all of Canada," says Mrs. Canada. "At the Grey Cup, may the best team win- we're all Canadian."
The couple has appeared as "two of Canada's proudest ambassadors and avid arch-patriots" since the mid-2000s (http://www.captainandmrscanada.ca/). In conversation in Vancouver, they noted they had recently represented the nation at Vimy Ridge, in France, and would be in Newfoundland on next year's Canada Day, in a province where July 1 doubles as a First World War Memorial Day. One learns something every day. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Cpt. Canada told me, was decimated on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, on July 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Newfoundland_Regiment).
This weekend, the Canadas assured me, was about good times. Grey Cup, they said, brings people from across the country together. And given their local status, the regular Grey Cup attendees saved on travel costs this time round.
"We can spend more on alcohol," laughed Cpt. Canada.
David Ebner