By SARAH GREEN -- Toronto Sun
  A glimpse of Toronto's seven-foot-tall fibreglass Moose in the City yesterday and Michelle Houston's family decided they were a long way from Paradise Hill in Saskatchewan.

 "Ours aren't as colourful," said Houston, who is in Toronto with husband Ross and daughters, Megan, 14, and Lindsay, 12.

 The Houstons are one of 13 families spending the holiday weekend in Toronto as winners of the Celebrate Canada in the Capital contest, organized by the National Capital Commission and the Canadian Capital Cities Organization.

 A total of 169 families were picked from 78,700 entries to spend five days with local families in one of 13 capitals, from St. John's to Victoria to Iqaluit, in a cross-country exchange.

 "It's nice to meet other people from your own country that you'd never otherwise see," Houston said.

 Councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski welcomed the families -- many still fighting jet lag -- at a City Hall brunch yesterday and gave them a quick primer on Toronto life, from politics to traffic.

 "On a good day it takes you an hour to drive from one end of the city to the other. That's how big it is," he said. "On a bad day, it takes you three hours."

 But what -- or who -- most visitors wanted to know about was the city's colourful Mayor Mel Lastman, who at the time was announcing his intention to run for a second term.

 "Where's the mayor? He's out there with all the cameras," Korwin-Kuczynski said with a smile.

 The mingling families shared their differences yesterday. "When we left, it was cold," said Neevee Natsiapik, 20, of Iqaluit.

 "We still have snow."

Source: Canadian Heritage