Canadian primitives further discuss Canadian national anthem

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=190x29676

Oh my.

Spazito  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-05-10 05:05 PM
Original message
 
Feds backtrack on promise to review anthem (ROFL, that didn't take long!)

OTTAWA — Two days after promising to review the wording of the English version of the national anthem to make it "gender-neutral," the Prime Minister's Office shelved those plans in the wake of "overwhelming" opposition to the idea.

(This is it, just one paragraph)

http://www.canada.com/news/national/Feds+backtrack+prom...

I love it! It seems the need to prorogue Parliament in order to consult with their members, etc, didn't quite work out that way, lol.

Edited to add another article with more info on this:

Conservatives ditch plan to revise anthem

The Harper government announced this afternoon that it is abandoning its promise to make the national anthem gender neutral by taking out the reference to “sons command” and replacing it with its original lyrics – “true patriot love thou dost in us command.”

“The Government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman Dimitri Soudas said late this afternoon. “We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear.”

“They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue.’

The suggestion to change the lyrics – one line in a 6,000 word Speech from the Throne – captured the imagination of Canadians. It also drew the ire of many in the Conservative base.

more

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/conser... /

HeresyLives (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-05-10 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. LOL no it sure shows nobody had been consulted on THAT one!

So much for 'recalibrating'.

Taber has:

'“The Government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman Dimitri Soudas said late this afternoon. “We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear.”

“They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue.’

The suggestion to change the lyrics – one line in a 6,000 word Speech from the Throne – captured the imagination of Canadians. It also drew the ire of many in the Conservative base.'

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/conser... 

daleo  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-05-10 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
 
2. It was just a bit of fluff to distract people

The budget was pretty bland, so I think they threw this in as something to talk about. I was surprised that they didn't try to keep this going, so that they could claim they saved the anthem from evil feminists or something like that. They probably did some polling and found that most people thought the whole thing was trivial.

Spazito  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-05-10 07:39 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
3. I guess Canadians aren't so easily distracted as harper had hoped...

as usual his political acumen comes out of his ass, lol.

HeresyLives (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-05-10 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #2
 
4. Apparently phones lit up in every Con riding office across the country...within an hour Harp was suggesting merely a committee to 'study it'

The budget is dreadful tho, so I hope it gets some attention now

daleo  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-05-10 09:25 PM
Response to Reply #4
 
5. Maybe they were throwing a bone to their base, then

So that they could say "see, we listened to you traditionalists on the anthem, we really are responsive".

Sure it would be cheap, cynical manipulation showing contempt for their supporters. What else is new?

HeresyLives (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-05-10 09:29 PM
Response to Reply #5
 
6. At the risk of offending women voters who are 52% of the population? Quite a gamble.

Steve is out-clevering himself again.

[The Village Idiot]

They'll have to make sure to please the natives and the gays and the asians and other minorities along the way too. They have already had some official be berated for writing a document about the history of Canada without mentioning homosexuals. This is "censorship" (somehow) he was told.