Vancouver 2010, no matter how expensive or how embarrassingly disorganized or plagued by poor weather, has already been worth whatever it costs the taxpayers of Canada and British Columbia. 

I tend to dislike the spectacle of Olympic games, which veer back and forth between the fascistic and the ludicrous, but the Vancouver Winter Olympics have become more than just another sporting event or opportunity for weird pyrotechnic displays.

Vancouver 2010 is a once-in-a-generation moment of national self-definition for Canada. It's been 43 years since we've had such an opportunity to look at who we are and where we're going. Vancouver 2010 is the new Expo 1967. It's still possible to see how the political and cultural life of Canada over the past 43 years can be traced back to the world's fair in Montreal.

Charles de Gaulle made his famous "Vive le Québec libre" speech while visiting the fair, and the threat of FLQ terrorism was in the air throughout. In hindsight it's easy to see how the referenda that nearly ripped the country apart had to happen after Expo 67. The other major

political trends of the '70s, '80s, and '90s all stretched their roots back to the fair. Expo coincided with the centennial of Confederation, connecting, ever after, our sense of national pride with openness towards the world. Thus the radical multiculturalism which now defines Canada's major cities. The tone of our multiculturalism, too‹never at any point insisting on integration‹was set out then: What we call the cultural mosaic is, in fact, a hangover from the world's fair. Everybody is still in their pavilions.

But that was 43 years ago. Forty-three years from now, you'll find collectible figurines of Vancouver 2010 mascots Miga the Sea Bear, Quatchi the Sasquatch and Sumi the Thunderbird in your attic and wonder if they're worth anything. You'll find an old pair of those red Hudson Bay Olympic mittens (3.4 million pairs sold so far) and remember that they only cost $10. You will also be able to trace how Canada¹s sense of national identity changed during the Winter Games of 2010, how we became more vocal and more explicit in our sense of pride, altogether more like the grown-up countries, for good and ill.

The new spirit was evident from the second day of the games, with the triumph of freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau in moguls. All the commentators have so far expressed a feeling of relief at his win. Finally, at long last, Canada is not the only country in the world never to have won a gold medal on home soil. No one has admitted to experiencing this victory as loss but I know there are those out there who will be mourning a little bit. We are no longer the beautiful losers. Even after the victory, the crowd showed its hostility towards silver medalist, Dale Begg-Smith, a natural-born Canadian who took on Australian citizenship after a dispute with the Canadian freestyle ski association. They booed the poor guy. You wanna move to Australia, Dale? You'd rather be an Australian than a Canadian? We'll leave your coaches to whine.

Patriotic bloodlust is on full display. No one is entirely immune. I recognize that it's ridiculous, but I dearly want our curlers to crush Britain. I want those British curlers crying into their beer. As for hockey, it has now achieved an unprecedented importance in the symbolic life of the country, and that¹s saying something. Nothing less than total victory for the men and women will do. I am uninterested in good, close games. I want blowouts, like the 8-0 game against Norway. Both teams, if they win any other medal than gold, will have to live with the shame for the rest of their lives. We have decided, as a country, that we require juggernaut status. We must be the only hockey team in the world, or at least the only real hockey team.

We don't even apologize anymore. We Canadians, who have mastered the art of the apology so thoroughly that even our terrorist plotters say sorry well, blame the luger not the track. French-English tension isn't what it used to be, either. Instead of de Gaulle, we have James Moore, the Conservative heritage minister from Western Canada, expressing outrage over the lack of bilingual balance at the opening ceremonies. Discussions are underway for allowing Quebec athletes to wear the fleur-de-lys. English Canada, if these games are any sign, has accepted the idea that Quebec is a separate nation within the country and is willing to allow it at least the symbolism of its separateness.

Our national identity is shifting, and the Olympics are coalescing the various trends. While the games are going on, Canadian soldiers are spearheading the surge in Afghanistan and our banks are becoming the model for the world. We are starting to find our sense of identity where other countries traditionally have, in our soldiers, our wealth, our athletes. Suddenly, we want to beat the world. We want to be number one. Who can believe it?