VANCOUVER, Canada—Vancouver is a sea of red and white with line-ups stretching down the street to stores selling yet more Canada Olympic paraphernalia.
It may be a love of sports, or maybe just the currently trendy Canada-themed merchandize, but with the city clad in Canada's colour, there is patriotic fervour here unseen in a generation.
The Superstore at the Hudson Bay in downtown Vancouver has been going “gangbusters” says Timmo Lumme, the International Olympic Committee’s director of merchandising and television.
“Everyone wants to touch a piece of the Olympic spirit to be able to take home with them. Canada is an Olympics-mad nation.”
Renée Smith-Valade, VP communications with Olympics organizer VANOC, says sales of Canada Olympic gear have already doubled what VANOC expected to sell with still five days left in the Games.
It has been a ratings bonanza as well for CTV which paid a mint to broadcast the Games.
Keith Pelley, who heads up the consortium of Olympic broadcasters, says viewership is very dependent on the success of Canada's athletes and already far beyond expectations with over 97 percent of Canadians tuning in at some point to check out the Games.
“We knew that the Games in your own country transcends sport, we just didn't anticipate the flood of the patriotic Canadian, which is usually more conservative,” he says.
The Games have galvanized the nation, he adds, becoming “a rallying cry for all Canadians.”
That cry can be heard in the streets of Vancouver nightly, with hoots and howls and cheers of “Go Canada, Go” erupting at any time. Spontaneous renditions of "Oh Canada" are not uncommon.
Laura Moss, Director of the UBC International Canadian Studies Centre, has been in it, and she likes it.
Currently writing a book about nationalism in Canada, Moss, says she has taken part in several events surrounding the Vancouver Olympics and believes there is a change in how Canadians show their love for their country.
What was once an individual display of patriotism, like sewing a Canadian flag on a backpack, has become communal.
"It is a sense of family and community that brings out all the red and white. And I think there is a sense of confidence in being Canadian,” Moss says.
The Canadian government has done its share to try to promote a sense of Canadian identity, partly driven by the concern that the elephant south of the border would gobble up our publishing houses and drown us in American broadcasts. The CBC, National Film Board, and publishing regulations have all aimed to keep that from happening.
But much like the celebrations that mark Canada Day, government efforts to promote Canadian identity are somewhat manufactured and lack the raw emotion on display now in Vancouver.
