For the next seventeen days, I will be working from my home office, aka my couch.

Once every four years, we are treated to the greatest spectacle in all of sports: the Olympic Winter Games.

I truly believe that the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver will help Canada gain more worldwide notoriety than it has ever had before…

Who doesn’t love watching the biathalon?

In all of sports, I dare you to propose a more exciting adventure than shooting a GUN while cross-country skiing!  What a unique combination of two seemingly distinct activities!

But if I had to be an Olympic athlete, I’d want to be in the four-man bobsled.

Just imagine:

Get together with three of your best buddies…

Throw on some tight spandex that leaves no inch of your body to the imagination…

Put on some gloves…

Run for eight seconds on ice, and then jump into a tiny man-sled…

Wrap your legs around the man in front of you, and huddle together as you hurdle down a track at 100 miles per hour…

The four of you, become one.

Now THAT is camaraderie!

Toronto has failed in its Olympic bids; once for the 1996 Summer Games that went to Atlanta, and once for the 2008 Summer Games that went to Beijing.

But Vancouver has succeeded where Toronto has failed, and they will rightfully host the world for the next seventeen days.

Personally, I think this is about more than just sports.

I think this is about our country; the greatest country in the world, and our chance to open the door to the entire world and show them into our house.

True; most people think that their own country is the greatest country in the world, and that’s probably a good thing.

But for many ignorant people across the globe who think that “Can-uh-duh” isn’t a high profile country, I think the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver will make them think again.

We may not rule the world via Hollywood and we aren’t brash as far as a country’s people go.  We don’t get the spotlight very often, but we as a people don’t exactly seek it either.

Canada is my home, and I love it dearly.

When I was 21 years old, I got a tattoo on my back of the maple leaf and I wear it proudly.

It bothers me to no end when Canada doesn’t achieve the international recognition that it deserves.

Look at politics, technology, education, arts, sports, environment, culture, and a host of other criteria and you will firmly see that Canada is always a factor.

In 1976, Canada joined the group of six to form the G7 as we know it today along with The United States, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, and the U.K.  Russia joined in 1997 to form the G8.

How about the G20 – the group responsible for holding the world’s economy together?  Canada was one of the integral parts of this group when it was formed in 1999, and will host the next G-20 Summit in July of 2010.

Gross Domestic Product has long since been a major indicator of a country’s stature or strength.  Canada was ranked 10th in 2009 out of 190 recognized countries.

Composite Index of National Capability is a statistical measure of national power which uses an average of percentages of world totals in six different components which represent demographic, economic, and military strength.  Canada ranked 19th the last time the study was completed (2001) out of 191 countries.

Canada ranked 12th in the 2008 Environmental Performance Index out of 149 countries.

Canada ranked 12th in the latest Healthy Life Expectancy poll by the World Health Organization out of 191 countries.

Canada ranked 4th out of 159 countries in 2005 in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index which combined indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment, and income.

And as we all know, Canada ranked 1st in the world in 2009’s Soundness of Banks study from the World Economic Forum.

Okay, so we are ranked 57th in the FIFA World Soccer Rankings, firmly supplanted between Poland and Saudi Arabia, but surely this cannot alone measure our success and failures on the world’s stage.

There will be three billion viewers of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and three billion people will witness all that our country has to offer.  Surely each and every country around the world will be interested in more than just sports as it pertains to Canada, and it’s a chance to show the world who we are as a people and what we value.

As Barack Obama has been desperately trying to forge ahead with his healthcare reform in the past year, much of America has taken notice of our healthcare system here in Canada just to compare and perhaps gain a glimpse of their collective futures.

There will always be supporters and detractors, but when I was in Idaho last summer and I let it be known that I hailed from the Great White North, many people would immediately ask, “What’s the healthcare like up there?”

We in Canada probably think that our system is more “advanced” since we don’t let people die in operating rooms because they don’t have health insurance, and we don’t force them to cut a cheque for $12,000 if they want their severed finger sewn back on.  But surely there are those in the United States that think our system is “archaic” since you can’t buy the best care possible.

All I know is that if I want to blow my nose and have a roomfull of doctors present while I do it, I get to do it for free.

People from countries near and far will be comparing every element of their society to ours.

Canada is going to be on stage for all the world to see, discuss, analyze, and scrutinize for a total of seventeen days, and in what better place to do it than Vancouver?

Vancouver was ranked 4th in the world in the Mercer 2009 Quality of Living Survey.  Given how many cities are in how many countries across the globe, I think this is an unbelievable achievement.

If you live in France and you’ve never heard of Vancouver; wake up!

If you live in Melbourne, Australia, or Lima, Peru and you have never seen a photo of the mountains in Whistler, B.C., then you certainly have a treat in store for you!

Beginning with the opening ceremonies on Friday night, the world will get to see who we Canadians are and what we’re really all about.

It’s not just about beer commercials and hockey.

We’re not really a legion of ice-skaters who take a dog-sled to work.

We’re a very proud people; well-respected and respectful.

We’re educated and intelligent; successful and ambitious.

We’re friendly, personable, mild-mannered, and modest.

We’re classy yet humble, and we reap what we sow.

We are important.

And so too is Canada as far as the globe is concerned.

Canada is not just another country.  Canada is as important as any other nation as the world moves forward in the 21st century, and while we may not make a lot of noise like most other countries and we may not jump up and down on every international stage at every single possible moment like those countries who gain the most notoriety, we always have been, and will continue to be, important.

Do I think Canada will, in fact, “Own The Podium?”

Yes, I do.

And that isn’t just wishful thinking or blind loyalty speaking.  I think we are going to win the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

We’ve spent the last eight years planning and training for this event, and our athletes are ready, focused, and have a stronger will than anybody else.  If our athletes lack skill, they can will their way to victory.

Hockey, Freestyle Skiing, Curling, Speed Skating – we’re going to clean house.

Alpine Skiing, Luge, Bobsled, Snowboarding – we’re always a threat.

Figure Skating – anything can happen.

Biathalon – just give me a gun and some skis and tell me where to show up!

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games isn’t just a spectacle for television, and whether you are a sports fan or not, I hope you all take in the games in one way or another.

Canada is in your heart.

Be proud of that.