The Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is an honour for merit that is the highest order administered by the Governor General-in-Council in the Canadian system of honours, on behalf of the Queen of Canada. The three-tiered order was established as a fellowship that recognizes the achievement of outstanding merit or distinguished service by Canadians, through life-long contributions in every field of endeavour, and who made a major difference to Canada, as well as the efforts made by non-Canadians who have made the world better by their actions. (wikipedia)

Friday was the 18th Order of Canada ceremony for Governor General Michaelle Jean and also likely her last, given she's leaving the post at the end of this month.

Canadian hockey great Mario Lemieux was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada Friday, along with Burton Cummings of Guess Who fame, former Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon, former NDP leader Alexa McDonough, movie mogul Ivan Reitman, former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, and singer Ben Heppner.

This was my second time meeting Mario Lemieux.

FLASHBACK

My first meeting with Super Mario was in Toronto at the Sport Card Expo in November. This was one of the few autograph signings that I actually paid for. Craig, who happens to be a huge Penguins fan, and I headed down for the signing.

We both bought 16x20s of Mario and Patrick Roy with hopes of getting Patrick to sign the photo as well.

We were in line for Mario and all I really wanted was a photo with him, more than the autograph. I ran over the scenerio with Craig. He would go first, I would take his picture, and then I would hand him the camera and he could take my photo with Mario. I told him that I would talk to Mario, shake his hand and then head off. Craig told me not to worry, that he would take seven photos.

So, we headed up, Craig handed Mario his photo, and I took his picture.

I then handed Craig my the camera. I handed Mario my photo, told him (in French) that I wanted to thank him for everything he has done for Team Canada. He told me that it was his pleasure. I shook his hand and, as I was about to walk away, Craig told me that I needed to lean into him. Needless to say, I had to keep the line moving and Craig didn't take a single picture.

This is what I ended up with.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset. The autograph did look nice though.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

My meeting with Mario this time was a little less eventful. He got off a bus with a bunch of other people, and I asked him to sign my photo. I got a bit of a scribble that looked like ML and he was signing as he was walking.

Soon after Mario walked into the hotel, Burton Cummings exited the hotel. Steve approached him with some LPs and Mr. Cummings was pretty impressed with them. He told us he had to do them quickly because he had a dinner to go to. Fortunately, quick for him meant not being able to stand around and talk for a half an hour. He signed all our things with a great autograph and let me grab a photo with him.

A couple of minutes after, Mario walked out of the hotel with his wife and headed towards a cab. As he opened the door, I yelled his name and when he turned I asked him if I could grab a photo. He told me sure.

I thanked him for the photo and congratulated him. He told me you're welcome, and thank you. Even though I got an autograph that wasn't nearly as nice as my first Mario autograph, I was happy to finally get a good picture with Super Mario.