Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony

For all of the hype, for all of the criticism, the speculation, the controversy, for all of it I have only this to say — the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics moved and inspired me.

It wasn’t the star studded cast, nor was it the show. It was the fact that Vancouver, and Canada, was at its best tonight. To see the parade of amazing Canadians really drove home how great we are as a country. It really was the best of the best that we as Canadians had to offer.

The surprise of the night for me, which really shouldn’t have been surprising, was KD Lang. Here I am expecting a big Celine Dion “poptacle” when KD Lang comes on stage and absolutely kills it with her soulful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Nothing else would have been more appropriate. She is the ultimate in talent and humility, and that in itself is distinctly Canadian.

Seeing Rick Hansen enter the stadium brought a tear to my eye, and to have him collectively light the cauldron with the likes of Catriona Lemay Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene Raine, and the great one himself Wayne Gretzky is truly a display of our great Canadian spirit. And really, only in Canada do we all light the flame together.

Shane Koyczan from Penticton (yes, my town!) put on an amazing performance of spoken word as he told his story of authentic Canadiana to the world with great command and reverence.

All in all, despite what anyone says, it is our turn to host the world’s biggest celebration. The world is in our house, and Vancouver is absolutely at it’s best. No matter how much money or ink has been spilled over these games we are hosting something truly incredible.

I think the critics have fallen short in one fundamental way — the benefit of the Olympic games to Canada is a complete intangible. It simply cannot be measured or quantified in dollars and cents.

The feeling I had watching the opening ceremony was one of pride for my country. I wanted to be up there with our great athletes, artists, and our other Canadian heroes — Romeo Dallaire, Betty Fox, Donald Sutherland, Bobby Orr, Julie Payette, Jacques Villeneuve, Barbara Ann Scott, and Anne Murray.

Seeing all of them together made me realize how great this country is, and it made me want to be a great Canadian. I can’t be the only one that felt that way, and to me that on its own is worth every penny we have spent on hosting the Olympic games.

An inspired nation will continue to do great things. How do you put a price on that?

(Note, most videos from the opening ceremony seem to have been removed from YouTube, but this is an earlier version of We Are More that was performed by Shane Koyczan at the opening ceremony.)