CALGARY, Alberta — When their national team faces off against Morocco today in its first-ever knockout match in a men’s World Cup, Canada’s political class will be in cowboy hats and boots.

The annual Calgary Stampede extravaganza attracts politicians and lobbyists who fly in for Stampede’s first four days for dealmaking, team building and/or partying — sometimes all three. Ottawa’s fishbowl and Toronto’s power set are drawn west by chuckwagon races and grandstand acts. They fit serious meetings in between carbo-loading pancakes, gawking at the rodeo and schmoozing up and down the nonstop reception circuit.

Once they reach Canada’s largest inland western city, federal pols are under a microscope: Do they look the part? Can they flip a pancake? Does it seem like they really want to be there?

Those who want to latch onto the newest outlet for Canada’s emergent patriotism may struggle to do so today. One of Saturday’s big political events — the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Calgary Stampede Mixer — begins at noon, an hour after the Canada-Morocco match kicks off in Houston.

Scheduling would have been more straightforward if the cowboy cosplayers had stayed put in Ottawa. The federal Department of Canadian Heritage — whose mandate is to support “Canadian identity and values, cultural development, and heritage” — is hosting a watch party at LeBreton Flats Park.

“From coast to coast to coast, the country is rallying behind the team as they write an incredible FIFA World Cup story,” Canada’s secretary of state for sport Adam van Koeverden said in a press release promoting the event sponsored by a government that has seen the tournament as an exercise in soft power. “It’s undeniable in moments like these that sport is a great nation-builder, and we can build Canada strong through sport.”

POLITICO’s Canada Playbook will publish special editions from Calgary Stampede this weekend. You can subscribe here. 

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