VANCOUVER, B.C.: FEBRUARY 19, 2010 – A man is detained by Vancouver Police on Granville St. Photo Credit: Stuart Davis, PNG

By now the city of Vancouver must officially be known as the dullest party zone this side of the Arabian peninsula. While a record number of tourists and Olympic visitors descend upon the lower mainland to partake in the revelry of what is surely a unique event for the city, the buzz-killing patrol is on full alert to ensure nobody is having more of a good time than they’re supposed to.

The Vancouver police closed liquor stores in downtown Vancouver at 7pm last night, to maintain order on the streets and prevent public intoxication.

With crowds in Vancouver reaching in the thousands over the past week, the police report that “too many” incidents of public intoxication and disorder have occurred.

“We had just a large number of people downtown, a lot of public intoxication and the disorder that stemmed from that,” Constable Jana McGuinness said in an interview late Saturday.

“It was really a big street party, but the difficulty with that is there were some public safety concerns over the level of intoxication that was happening.”

To that end, the police department phoned the government’s Liquor Control branch, which controls all dispensing of beer and wine and hard alcohol in the province, and asked them to shut down four hours early. During the Olympics. During a Party.

This is like your parents coming home unexpectedly just as the house party gets underway, before any of the furniture has been broken or the TV tossed into the swimming pool yet, and ordering everybody outside under threat of calling their parents. To be a resident of Vancouver, it’s a bit of an embarrassment.

And really, what is the major problem with a little temporary public intoxication? Is society as we know it going to come to an end because we partied a little hard during the Olympics? The United States has their Mardi Gras and Spring Break, during which time the police look the other way for a week or two. When the festivities wrap up, they go back to their usual zero tolerance.

Unless there are riots and major bloodshed breaking out, what the big deal with people walking about a little bit sloshed? After all, Canada has much to celebrate, after kicking that gold medal monkey off our backs and bringing home four already.

Today Canada plays the United States in what is expected to be the most watched event for the Olympics, short of the Gold Medal game itself. In a primer for that event, the troops in Afghanistan had a little street hockey event between the Canadian and American soldiers stationed in Kandahar. Canada won 16-2.

Although few are expecting Canada to romp over the Americans by the same score when they hit the ice, the chances are that if Canada can pull off the win, there will be more than a few giddy fans who will break into the streets and revel in the alcoholic beverages readily available to thirsty fans. But will the police let Canadians in Vancouver have any fun tonight? Or will they pull the plug early, and ask everybody to get into bed by dinner time?

The police have been ticketing people $230 for the public consumption of liquor, and confiscating the bottles of those who may be travelling with liquor without being able to prove a residence they will be drinking it in.

Canadians paid for this party, with a price tag numbering in the obscene billions of dollars. The least the government can do now is let us get what we paid for. A party.