butcher

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 5, 2010

MPs thrown by anthem debate

A move to change the words of the national anthem caught MPs on all sides of the House of Commons by surprise on Thursday.

And for many, the issue has lit up the switchboards back in their constituency offices.

Industry Minister Tony Clement, who represents a central Ontario riding, said his staff fielded calls on the issue. “And they’re 100 per cent against it,” Clement said in Ottawa.

The government, in the speech from the throne on Wednesday, said it would simply refer the anthem to a Commons’ committee to study its gender neutrality.

Many believe the phrase “in all our sons command” could be changed to the original 1909 lyric “in thou dost us command.”

Defence Minister Peter MacKay told a Halifax radio show Thursday he wants O Canada to stay the way it is.

Anita Neville, a Liberal MP from Winnipeg who is also her party’s critic for the status of women, said when she sings the national anthem, she sings her own verse, using “in all of us command,” in place of “all our sons” command.”

But she said the government is trying to distract Canadians from substantive issues with the surprise announcement to change the anthem. (Source: Winnipeg Free Press)