Vancouver 2010! Er, Gibson's Landing 2010!

As the top half of the Mace traveled in its spacious and comfortable box from Yellowknife to Vancouver, excitement mounting, it also had a moment of regret. "Maybe I should have asked to keep the toque from Yellowknife," it thought. "After all, the Winter Olympics are going on. It's bound to be mighty chilly down there."



"Hmm, guess I don't need the hat after all."



It turns out that tickets to the games were pretty expensive, and unfortunately the mace didn't have any of the $130,000,000 that was being spent on keeping Commons going while no one was at work. So instead, it decided to take a beautiful springtime tour of Gibson's Landing BC.



"Hmm. Well, if I stretch a bit, I can almost see Cypress Mountain from here. Did I just hear a cheer?"



Turning its gaze slightly, the Mace got a beautiful view of the third sea in its sea-to-sea-to-sea tour of the country so far. "Okay, so I didn't get to see the Arctic Ocean," it thought, "but I did get to play hockey on Great Slave Lake." Its guide saw the pictures, and noted that it actually played hockey on a pond, and that Great Slave was much larger. "Rats," said the Mace, "I really need to get out more."



Next was a stop to the site where Captain George Vancouver landed in 1792, to claim Puget Sound for Great Britain. "Vancouver, 1792!" shouted the Mace. "It doesn't have exactly the same ring, does it?" "No," admitted its guide, "but it was perhaps a more significant event." The Mace stopped to ponder for a moment. "I wonder if the King of England was banking on Vancouver's expedition to take his subjects' attention off of some scandal happening at the palace?" "I have no idea to what you might be alluding," said its guide.



At this juncture, the Mace opted to take a rest and sun on the rocky shores of Gibson's Landing. Looking to its side, it noticed something that inspired in it a wave of homesickness:



"A giant pile of driftwood!" exclaimed the Mace. "I feel like I'm back in the House of Commons!"

"Alright, enough sentimentalism," said the Mace's knowledgeable guide, "It's time to see the real reason I brought you to Gibson's Landing. We're off to see one of the truly democratic buildings in the nation. A place where thousands of Canadians turned for years to see reasoned debate, peaceful settlement of conflict, and respectful interactions between Canadians from varying backgrounds and professions, be they Greek, Aborigional, male, female, poor, rich, middle class, well known, or unknown. They always had a voice in this stately example of what truly binds this country together:"













"Wow," said the Mace. "If I had an eye, there'd be a tear in it right now."



And with that, the Mace was off to the next destination on its Western journey: Cowtown, home of the Stampede, and of the country's current Prime Minister - Calgary, Alberta!

But next chapter, we'll be joining the Mace's Eastern tour, to Charlottetown, PEI!