Gary Mason began his journalism career in British Columbia in 1981, working as a summer intern for Canadian Press. One of his first assignments was covering the last days of the province's favourite son, Terry Fox. Gary would later go on to work for the Victoria Times-Colonist before joining The Vancouver Sun, where he worked for 19 years in a variety of roles, including legislative bureau chief, city editor and deputy managing editor before he began writing a popular sports column in 1997. He joined The Globe and Mail in 2005 as a national affairs columnist based in Vancouver.