B.C. culture picking up an Olympic boost

Question: What do William Gibson, Steven Galloway, Diana Krall, Mike Allen, Matthew Good, William Patrick Kinsella, Timothy Taylor, Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon, Michele Smolkin, Douglas Coupland, Les Henderson, Nelly Furtado, John Vaillant, Hey Ocean, Delhi 2 Dublin, New Pornographers, Mother Mother, The Paperboys, Sarah McLachlan, Joy Kogawa, Deni Yvan Bechard, Annabel Lyon, Michael Buble and Bryan Adams all have in common?

All those people listed are B.C. or former B.C. residents who are successful in the arts, who were featured in this week's issue of Quebec magazine L'Actualite.

It was part of a 38-page feature on Vancouver and British Columbia in the magazine, dissecting the life, culture, history, politics, first nations, immigrants, wildlife and (yes) scenery of British Columbia in greater detail and with greater empathy, understanding and sophistication than has ever occurred in a Quebec publication in the past 200 years. Oh there were also a few pages of items about the prospects of Quebec athletes.

I was at another magazine stand a couple of weeks ago in a suburban Montreal french area, and I just about had to pick up my jaw off the floor as I noticed two different magazines with the word "Revelstoke" on the front cover - and they weren't referring to building supplies.

I've seen numerous other examples, over the past few weeks especially, of how Quebecers have been getting more information about Vancouver and British Columbia than you would ever hear, if it weren't for the Olympics.

RDS has had someone living in Vancouver already for months just writing impressions and observations.

I assume this is going on throughout the world to a greater or lesser degree.

So, just to say I wouldn't be so quick to write off the benefits of the Olympics in terms of promoting understanding among the peoples of the world. Even if the cost of staging the Olympics turns out to be higher than the obvious economic impacts accrued - there are some benefits that can't be simply brushed off as easily as one might suppose.

Having an Olympics certainly beats having a war. And it even beats having everyone stay home.